Twilight of the Senshi
by Eric Thorsen
Summary: A Ranma, Sailor Moon Crossover. This story is based on a common theme, with uncommon execution... What if the Moon Kingdom wasn't the only government in the solar system during the silver millenium? What really happened back then? What does it mean now?
1. Part One

1This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

by

Stacko

Edited by Lord Dragonbane

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Part One

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

TENDO DOJO, NERIMA WARD, TOKYO

Nabiki peered into the living room as she walked to the kitchen to talk to her older sister. She had been doing some thinking about the announcement that their father made several hours ago, and she couldn't believe her father was dumb enough to engage her, or one of her sister's, to someone that they never met, much less someone he'd never met. At least that was now on hold because the 'son' of her father's friend had turned out to be a redheaded girl. She was mad at her father, he could have at least known for sure about Ranma's true gender. She saw her father sitting silently, tears flowing down his face, staring across the shoji board at a rather bulky spectacled man, who was in a similar state. There was an oppressive, dark ambience to the atmosphere. She turned and entered the kitchen, finding her sister at the counter, cutting some vegetables and cleared her throat.

"Hey Sis, do you know who that old guy with father is?" Nabiki asked.

"No." Replied Kasumi calmly.

"Come on, Sis, aren't you at all curious about him?" Nabiki pressed.

"Not really, no," Kasumi replied calmly. "Father will tell us all about him when the time comes."

She continued preparing a light snack in the kitchen, until there came a furious knock at the front gate. Nabiki, the one closest to the door, noticed that her sister was still busy with dinner, and walked to the front gate and slid it open.

A young girl of about twelve years of age stood there, panting like she'd been running for some distance. She had collar length black hair; violet colored eyes, was about 4' 4'' tall, and wore a black with dark purple striped bandana. She was dressed in a dark purple T-shirt and a pair of black trousers, under a heavy black trench coat that went down pass her ankles. Her shoes were covered in mud, so that it was hard to make out any details about them. She was carrying a backpack that was much too big for her, and had a quarterstaff over the top of it that held a backpack at each end.

"Excuse me," she said between breaths, her accent betraying her as a foreigner, American from what Nabiki could tell, "but is there a rather cute, short, red-haired, pig-tailed, girl who just arrived here with a panda?"

"Umm..." Nabiki stalled. The girl mentioned was unmistakably Ranma Saotome, the "son" of her father's old friend who'd just arrived a little over an hour earlier with her "pet" panda. But she didn't know why the girl wanted to know.

"Who is it, Nabiki-chan?" Kasumi inquired, coming to the gate.

"Is Ranma Saotome here?" the young girl asked Kasumi directly. "I'm still learning how to read Japanese, but I figured that the sign means Tendo Dojo', and that's where h- ... uh, we were headed. Is she here?"

"Why, yes," Kasumi replied. "She and her pet panda came here only a short while ago. She's in the bath right now. Who ..."

"Wait a minute," Nabiki interrupted. "You ran that bath for Ranma? I thought it was for Akane, so I sent her in."

"Oh my. Well, the two of them seemed to be getting along well."

"Excuse me," said the young girl in the doorway, who had a sick expression on her face. "This would be a hot bath, right?"

"Yes, Ranma-chan was very sweaty after her sparring match with Akane-chan, and ... is something wrong?"

Kasumi noticed that the young girl had dropped the quarterstaff that held two of the packs, and closed her eyes, while plugging her ears with her fingers. Kasumi and Nabiki were confused at the girl's actions and were about to ask her what she was doing when an ear-splitting scream reverberated through the air. Kasumi and Nabiki quickly turned to look toward its source. The young girl opened her eyes and unplugged her ears when the scream ended finally.

Akane Tendo ran screaming down the hallway, her long hair streaming behind her. She ran out into the garden, seizing hold of a large piece of stonework that was resting there inoffensively, babbling, "I'll weigh him down! I'll drown him in the bathtub!"

Akane's two elder sister's approached her cautiously, neither aware that the young girl was following them with a resigned expression.

"Akane," Nabiki inquired, "what's wrong? What's that for?" she added, pointing at the stonework that the younger girl was holding.

"There's a pervert in the bathroom," Akane hissed.

"Then ... why didn't you just kill him with your bare hands?" Nabiki prodded.

"Easier said than done," the young girl muttered with a weak chuckle. Nobody noticed.

"Because I got scared." Akane replied defensively.

"That's odd ... Ranma was in the bath just now," Kasumi murmured. "I hope she's all right."

"That's actually less odd than you might think, Miss," the young girl commented with a laugh.

Before Kasumi could reply to that, she saw a young man with dark hair, wearing Ranma's clothes, step out of the house, and start towards them with an embarrassed expression.

"Who..." Kasumi began.

"Who are you?" Nabiki demanded, finishing the thought.

"I'm Ranma Saotome... sorry 'bout this," he replied. Then he noticed the young girl who was standing behind the Tendo sisters with an angry look to her face. "Oh! Hey, sorry we left you back there..."

Ranma was cut off when a backpack slammed into him, knocking him to the floor.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be, Red." the young girl replied angrily, stealing a look at the still furious, confused expression on Akane's face. Her gaze lingered for just a second longer than it should, but only Nabiki noticed. Then she turned back to the man calling himself Ranma. "You two run off on me and leave your backpacks for me to carry. Not to mention that I don't know where the place is and had to carry all three backpacks all the way here."

"Sorry. We weren't thinking to straight at the time." Ranma said apologetically.

"Yeah, I noticed." The young girl growled. "By the way, is the bath still hot?"

"It is still pretty warm." Ranma told the young girl after he got back to his feet. "Should be enough ... just remember to wash before you get in the tub, okay?"

"I try to avoid repeating my mistakes, Red," she sighed, as she started walking towards the bathroom.

"Just a minute! Who are you?" Kasumi asked forcefully to the young girl, getting a surprised glance from her sisters.

The young girl turned back and smiled. "My name's Steve Stachowicz, miss. Pleased to meet ya."

xxxx

As evening came to the Tendo household, the four current residents and their three guests gathered in the dining room. The young girl who had come to the door that afternoon had never emerged from the bathroom. Instead, a young man, about six feet tall, with brown hair, bluish eyes, wearing her clothes, and glasses sat in the room. The clothes fit him a lot more comfortably Nabiki noted.

He sat with a preoccupied expression beside the other young man who claimed to be Ranma, who in turn sat beside the middle-aged man who had been sitting with Soun Tendo. They were all three sitting in a row across from the three sisters, while Soun sat at the head of the table.

"As I have already said," Soun said, "this is my dear old friend --"

"Genma Saotome," the middle-aged man continued. "And this is my son --"

"Ranma Saotome," the young man finished, glaring at his father.

"Ahem." Coming from the other man.

"Oh. And this is Steve Stachowicz, a friend we met on our trip through China" Genma said.

Akane was staring at Ranma with thinly veiled hatred, while he returned her look with apprehension. Neither of them noticed the curious expression on Steve's face as he gazed from Akane to Ranma.

"What's this all about?" Nabiki asked, bewildered.

"Are you really ... them? Those girls?" Kasumi inquired in confusion.

"Well..." Steve began, trying to figure out how best to answer.

"Where should I begin?" Genma wondered aloud. "Ah! I know." With a single, fluid motion, he grabbed his son by the collar, turned, and threw him out the open door to the pond. With a single startled shriek, Ranma splashed down.

"Y'know, Mr. Saotome ... I think we could've explained this without a demonstration," Steve sighed regretfully.

The red-haired girl rose from the pool with a furious expression. "What the hell you do that for?"

"No, Stacko, it was necessary for them to see the depth of my humiliation! Oh, my son!"

His son leaped from the pool, grabbed her father, and flung him into the pool. Moments later, a large panda arose from the pool, the same panda that had carried Ranma to the dojo.

"Now they see the depths of your humiliation, old man!" the female-Ranma sneered with contempt.

"Father..." Kasumi inquired, delicately, "Why are you friends with these people?"

"They weren't like this before," Soun declared. "Not before they went to China ... and undertook a terrifying training exercise!"

"Actually, it wasn't so much the training exercise that was such a big deal," Steve interjected. "It was more the locale and what they did."

As female-Ranma and panda-Genma went to take another hot bath, the attention of the Tendo family abruptly focused on the Westerner in their midst. "And ... you, also..." Kasumi began.

"Change?" Steve supplied, scratching his head. "Yeah. I hope you'll forgive me, though, if I don't give you a demonstration. It's not too fun for me."

"How did a person from ... where are you from anyway?" Soun inquired.

"America, Tendo-san. Wisconsin, if you're familiar with the ... no? Okay. How I wound up with those two is sort of confusing, even to me, and it really isn't a big part of their story, which is probably what you're most interested in right now. I only hooked up with them about a month before ... IT happened."

"How come you arrived without them?" Kasumi asked.

"Well, when we were entering Tokyo, Genma decided to tell Ranma about this pledge he made to your family." Steve noticed the looks that the three girls were giving their father. "Apparently the three of you were also told about this 'pledge' today, am I right?"

"Yes." Kasumi replied in surprise.

"Well, after Genma told Ranma about this pledge, they dropped their back packs and started fighting each other. Their fight quickly took them out of the area, so I had to carry all three backpacks and followed after them. It was then that it started raining and I lost track of them. So I started asking round for your address, since I remembered Genma saying that this was where we were headed. That was how I ended arriving a little later than they did." Steve said finally.

"So, how did 'IT' happen?" Nabiki asked.

"Well..." Steve started.

Ranma and Genma, now restored to their true forms, marched back into the room, and resumed their seats. Genma had heard the tail end of Steve's "talk", and picked up from there. "Ah yes ... it was a fateful three weeks ago..." He began theatrically.

And he related the very tragic tale of how they had sought to perfect their martial arts techniques at the Training Grounds of Accursed Springs, how Genma had fallen to Ranma's blows into the Spring of Drowned Panda, how Ranma had been knocked into the Spring of Drowned Girl, and how Ranma accidentally knocked Steve into the Spring of Drowned Young Girl.

There was a stunned silence in the room, as Genma finished the tale.

"The legendary training ground of accursed springs," Soun murmured. "Its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery until now..."

"What do you mean, true horror?" Ranma bit out. He had been holding his tremendous anger in while his father had recited the tale. Suddenly, he seized hold of Genma's collar, and bellowed into his face. "Yo! Old man! What's the idea of draggin' me to a place like that anyway?"

Wordlessly, Genma flung Ranma towards the pool. A large splash ensued, then revealed Ranma in female form.

"You sound like a woman!" Genma answered Ranma bellow for bellow, earning himself a dirty look from Akane, and a tired sigh from Steve that he didn't notice. "Were you not prepared to give your life for the sake of the Art?"

"My life, yes..." female-Ranma said quietly. From a corner, she seized a bucket full of water, and flung it at her father, screaming, "My manhood is another story!"

It was probably not her intent to splash Steve with some water in the process. It was the first time that any of the Tendo family had actually seen the process. Steve's body shrunk almost two feet in height, and his shoulders narrowed. The hair on his head darkened to black, and his face got a youthful look to it. He had closed his eyes when he was splashed; now she opened them to reveal that they had turned to violet. Neither Ranma nor Genma, now in panda mode, seemed to have noticed the other transformation, being intent on some sort of fistfight.

"Oh ... what a tragedy!" Soun proclaimed, tears flowing from his eyes.

Kasumi had stood up, and was opening her mouth to say something to the Saotome family, when Steve cut her off.

"ALL RIGHT YOU TWO. KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW!" Steve bellowed, completely fed up. Her tone spoke eloquently of death in the near future, and Ranma slowly turned to stare at her, as did the Panda, both in shock.

"I have been watching the two of you fight about this "thing" for the last three weeks. I've HAD it! Ranma, your father is, beyond a doubt, foolish for having done something like this. HowEVER, like I said when I talked to you, if I was looking for someone to blame for what happened to me, I'd start with you, Ranma. You complain that you lost your manhood due to your father, but because of you, I lost my manhood AND my adulthood. If I can deal with it, you can. Or are either of you going to have it be said that someone with only about four month's training in the martial arts can deal with wild and crazy situations like this better than the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts?"

Ranma bowed her head, and released her grip on the panda, who also proceeded to release her, without looking in Steve's direction, ashamed.

"But ... what in the world made them do something so dangerous?" Kasumi asked Steve suddenly.

"Well ... truth to tell, Ms. Tendo, I've gathered that Mr. Saotome didn't fully understand what he was getting into at Juthenkyou?"

"Jusenkyo," Ranma said quietly.

"Thanks" Steve said to Ranma. "That would be because he doesn't read Chinese, so he couldn't make heads or tails of the warning signs, understandable, probably. On the other hand, not listening to the Guide's warnings was a dumb move, but on yet another hand, it was a move I also made, so..."

"Well, in any case, any friend of the Saotome family is certainly a friend of the Tendo family," Kasumi said decisively. "Please, Steve-san, stay here as long as you feel comfortable."

"Thanks. But you can call me Stack or Stacko. My friends have been calling me that for years, so it's become like my actual name." Steve replied to Kasumi.

"Okay, Stacko-san." Kasumi said with a smile.

Soun had stepped out of the room and into the kitchen during Steve's story, and now returned, carrying a kettle of boiling water, which he proceeded to pour on the panda. In a twinkling, the panda became Genma once more.

"So. When doused with hot water, you return to human form." Soun said happily.

"Well, it needn't be quite that hot," Genma said, wincing in pain. Soun ignored him completely.

"When doused with cold water, you become a girl, but hot water turns you back into a boy!" Soun told to Ranma. Ranma guessed what he was going to do a second before he did it and kicked the kettle out of Soun's hands when Soun tried to pour the water on him.

"Hot water! Not boiling!" Ranma protested angrily.

Just then there was a high-pitched female scream that suddenly turned to a high-pitched male scream of pain. Everyone turned at the sound and found that the kettle Ranma had kicked had emptied itself all over Steve, who is now in male form with the kettle at his feet. He was giving Ranma a glare as he tried to quickly cool his clothes.

"Oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't see you ..." Ranma started until the kettle hit her in the face and knocked her on the floor, stunned.

"Apology accepted." Steve grumbled, no one noticed the approving look Akane gave Steve, and then Soun laughed as Ranma stood back up. It was not a pleasant sound.

"It's all right! Your problem isn't so big after all!" Soun said smiling as that statement perplexed Ranma. "My daughters. Kasumi, nineteen. Nabiki, seventeen. Akane, sixteen. Pick the one you want. She's your fiancée."

Steve's eyes went wide at this. He cleared his throat and excused himself and went into the kitchen to get a drink of cold water. Kasumi and Nabiki had exchanged a single look while Steve headed to the kitchen.

"Oh, he wants Akane," offered Kasumi, smiling calmly.

"Wha?" Akane asked confused at Kasumi.

"Oh definitely!" Nabiki agreed, her expression indicating that she thought it was settled.

"You gotta be kidding!" Akane shouted. "Why would I be..."

"Well, you hate boys, right?" Nabiki pointed out.

"You're in luck! He's half-girl! You'll be very happy together!" Kasumi predicted.

"Me? With that sex-freak pervert! NEVER!"

"Hey!" Ranma interjected. "Whaddaya mean, sex-freak pervert?"

"You change genders and you looked at my naked body, you sex-freak pervert!"

"You walked in on me!" Ranma pointed out angrily, offended by the injustice of her statement.

"It's different when a girl sees a boy!" Akane sneered knowingly.

"Ah, they're already the perfect couple," Soun commented to Genma, who laughed in agreement.

"He's a couple by himself!" Akane shouted at her father. Ranma's eyes narrowed at that. "And if you ever do anything like that again --"

Ranma started to walk away while Akane was in mid-rant. "Sayonara," she bit out angrily.

"Where are you going, boy?" Genma demanded.

"Back to Jyoketsuzoku. They must know of a way to change back for good!" Ranma angrily retorted. "This is no time for fiancées, old man!"

She paused, then turned back to look at Akane. "And by the way, you took a pretty good look at me back there too. But it's no big deal for me to see a naked girl. I've seen myself, plenty of times." Ranma lifted her collar, and stared down her blouse to demonstrate. What Ranma just said visibly shocked Akane. No one noticed Steve returning into the room. "And besides, your chest is almost flat," Ranma sniffed, turning away.

Big mistake.

Akane silently knelt, grabbed the table, lifted it, and slammed it down on what she thought was Ranma's head, smashing the person into the floor, with only the person's feet sticking out from under the table.

"Take that Ranma." Akane said in satisfaction.

"Hey, sis, that's not Ranma." Nabiki said. Akane looked at Nabiki and then over to where Ranma was standing grinning at her, lifted the table and found Steve laying on the floor unconscious, in his female form.

"What an uncute, tomboy. She can't even hit what she wants to." Ranma said taunting Akane.

"Why you ..." Akane said as she then started chasing after Ranma, carrying the table.

"Looks like Ranma's the flat one now," Genma muttered as he watched Akane finally catch him and pound him flat while Kasumi and Nabiki took care of Steve.

xxxx

Akane had furiously headed for her room after beating up Ranma, while Genma and Soun went off to drown their sorrows and celebrate the imminent union of their houses. This then left Kasumi and Nabiki in the living room with Ranma, after she limped back inside. And Steve, but as he was unconscious, and was now a young girl again because his cup emptied itself on him, he didn't offer a lot to the conversation, at least, not as a participant.

"Uh, Ms. Tendo..." Ranma began.

"Please, Ranma-chan, call me Kasumi, or if you desire formality, Kasumi-san. Either is acceptable."

"Right," Ranma smiled wearily. "Kasumi, is that kettle still hot?"

Kasumi checked the small teakettle that had been replaced after Akane used the table as a club. "Not hot, but very warm."

Ranma sighed. "Hopefully it should work." Her expression was melancholy as she sat down next to Steve and dumped the rest of the kettle over herself and changed back to his male form. Kasumi set Steve in a comfortable position and placed a damp cloth on her forehead. While Steve was unconscious, Nabiki and Kasumi decided to talk to Ranma about the 'curse'.

"What exactly does it feel like?" Kasumi asked.

"The change?" Ranma asked rhetorically. He saw Kasumi and Nabiki nod their heads. He thought a moment. "Well, there's an odd tingling sensation all over the body, especially the face, chest, and ... um ... there. Then there's a sort of empty feeling in the lower regions, and a swelling on the chest, which makes breathing a little odd. But those only last maybe a second, and then ... boom. It's over and I feel completely normal."

"Normal?" Kasumi asked, surprised. He nodded, then shrugged.

"That's the scariest part, I think. Stacko and me can be going along, minding our own business, and bam, someone says something like, Gee, what cute little girls,' I realize that they're referring to us, and I remember that I'm not normally a girl. Going back is, well, it's sort of like the reverse of what I said."

"It all seems so ... incredible. And what did Stacko mean by him losing his adulthood? He looks just as old as you." Nabiki said in confusion.

"Well, he is twenty-four years old. The reason he looks like that as far as we can tell is a side effect of the cursed form he has." Ranma answered as he looked down at Steve. He failed to notice the different looks that the two Tendo sisters were giving Steve. Steve slowly returned to consciousness at about that time, and her eyes slowly opened. Ranma turned to her.

"Stack? Do yourself a favor. Don't lift your head too quickly. You just got knocked a good one, and if you get up too soon, you'll feel even worse. Okay?"

Steve nodded weakly. "'Kay."

"Please don't think too harshly of Akane," Kasumi said kindly. "She's really is a very sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac, sometimes."

"Oh, good, Kasumi, that makes a lot of sense," Nabiki muttered in disbelief.

"I think I get your meaning, do not tease the cute animals', right?" Steve asked, her voice filled with amusement.

Kasumi nodded. "Although I don't think of my little sister as an animal, of course. Well, not usually. Rarely."

Nabiki made a don't-tell-these-weird-people-all-the-family-gossip' gesture at Kasumi, and they both stood up.

"Would you like us to run a hot bath for you?" Kasumi asked Steve.

"Thank you that would be very gracious." Steve replied.

The Tendo sisters left the room and Steve sighed. "Well, Ranma, what caused me to get decked by a table?"

"Akane was calling me a 'sex-freak pervert' and I argued back, and she didn't like what I had to say to her and attacked with the table."

"Why did she call you that?"

"She walked in on me while I was taking a bath, and I saw her naked body."

"So apart from having the unfortunate luck to be naked in the bath when the young lady entered the bathroom, what did you do to her?"

"Nothin'! I didn't do nothin'!"

"Double negative."

"I didn't do anything, okay? I just had a sparring match with her, that's it! She said she wanted to be friends," Ranma spat out. "So much for friends, when she found out I'm a boy!"

"I don't get it. I can understand how she'd be upset about an arranged marriage, hell; I'd probably be upset myself. Well, anyway, how is she?"

"Uh. Some fairly efficient moves, way too slow though. Lot of power behind her blows, but it's just too easy to get out of the way. When she connected with that table..."

"Don't mention the table, I know about the table. Maybe she is a little better than ... you know who?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not even close. But since they're back in China, after we passed their stupid test, you can stop worrying about her anytime now, Stack."

"I'll stop worrying about that when I know for sure that those Amazon's don't want anything else from us, Red," Steve said soberly. "I still think they have something planned for us yet, especially me. Augh ... what kind of girl is she, anyway?" Steve complained as she pulled herself into a seated position and then suddenly grabbed her head.

"The kind that doesn't like a guy to see her naked. Hell, she got a free show from me," Ranma grumbled, and Steve got up to walk. She was a bit unsteady, so Ranma stayed close.

"Well, maybe she's the kind that doesn't enjoy that kind of show," Steve shrugged philosophically.

"What kinda chick wouldn't wanna see a guy's muscle tone?" Ranma asked in incomprehension.

"Do you want to see a guy's muscle tone, Red?" Steve asked with false sweetness.

"No way! I mean ... what do you mean?"

"Let it go, Ranma," Steve sighed, as they headed for the bathroom.

Ranma dropped Steve off at the bathroom and then continued on to the room he was staying in. Steve had started to pull off her clothes and had removed all but her shirt; she was pulling that off over her head, when the sliding door to the bathtub slid open.

On the other side was Akane.

Naked.

"Uh," said Steve as she looked through the opening of her shirt. "Uh. Uh-oh!"

"Why you ... you ... you ..." Akane bit out slowly and raised her hand to slap Steve's face.

All of the sudden, Steve threw off her shirt and dropped to the floor and crawled away from her, on her butt, while saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Steve crawled until she ran up against a corner of the room. Her shirt settled on her so it mostly covered her nudity, and Steve placed her arms over her face to ward Akane off, while favoring her left side.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, whatever I did, I'm sorry." Steve said over and over.

Akane was surprised at Steve's actions. Then her anger suddenly left when she noticed a massive bruise on the left side of Steve's body. Quickly wrapping her towel around her body, she put on her robe, and walked over to Steve. As she neared Steve, she tried to get away from her.

"Hey, hey, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Akane said trying to calm Steve down.

"Do you promise?" Steve asked while looking over her left arm, fear evident in her eyes.

"Why?"

"Well, Ranma told me on how you reacted when both of you were in the bathroom earlier."

"Oh."

"So are you going to promise, or am I going to have to prepare for another bashing?"

"I promise." Akane said, blushing about the incident that Steve was talking about.

Steve looked over and saw that Akane didn't have her look of anger on her face. Steve calmed down, then suddenly realized she was naked and tried to use her shirt to cover herself and blushed. Steve heard Akane giggle and she turned to glare at Akane. Steve then got a confused look to her face when she laughed harder.

"What's so funny?" Steve asked confused.

"You are. The way you look right now."

"Hey!"

"Don't worry about it."

"Why aren't you mad at me for walking in on you?"

"I'll tell you that if you answer a few questions of mine?"

"You going to hit me if I say something you don't like?"

"No."

"Okay, deal. But can I sit somewhere else, this floor is beginning to get uncomfortable."

"Sure. You were going to take a bath?"

"Yes. Kasumi said that she would start the bath for me."

"Okay, here, follow me."

Akane led Steve into the bathroom part and when Steve commented on that, Akane told her that she could wash down while she answered her questions. Steve blushed but sat down on the stool and started washing herself while Akane sat on the edge of the tub to watch Steve.

"Um, what did you want to know?" Steve said washing herself while waiting for Akane to ask.

"How did you hook up with those two? And how did you get that bruise?" Akane asked, indicating Steve's left side.

"It's a hell of a story," Steve replied. "And if parts of it don't make sense to you, they don't make much more sense to me either. But here it is...it was a month after I graduated college ..." Steve started when Akane interrupted her.

"Wait a minute, you've graduated from college? Just how old are you?" Akane asked in shock.

"I'm 24."

"But you look as old as I am!"

"I guess it is a side effect from my curse. That is all I can think my new appearance would come from."

"Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting you, please continue." Akane said while reevaluating her opinion on Steve.

"As I was saying, it was a month after I graduated when I was exploring around America. I wanted to enjoy my life before I settled down for a while, so I took a flight to the Rocky Mountain area and started hiking around. I was enjoying myself at my campsite, when another hiker came by and asked for directions to this town that sounded Japanese. I invited him to sit and enjoy the fire and some of my food and to rest for a bit, because it looked like he was dead tired.

"Any way, after we were done eating, we started talking. I found out his name was Ryouga Hibiki, a Japanese national out looking for someone who ran out on a challenge. Well, to shorten this section a bit, we talked all night and we agreed I would accompany him until we got to the Pacific Ocean where he would take a flight back to Japan. The next morning I found out he was into Martial Arts, so I asked him if he could teach me some of the Art until we parted company, and he agreed.

"We hiked for two months to get to the West Coast of America, and in that time I found out that he had a slight problem. He had trouble with directions, as in he got lost very easily. I spent most of my time, when I wasn't training, sleeping, or cooking a meal, keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't get lost. We became pretty good friends; he helped me a lot on practicing my Japanese and martial arts. But at the end of the second month, when I was following Ryouga as we were hiking, disaster struck.

"It was raining that day as we were hiking along this trail on this one mountain. We were near the top, when all of the sudden, the trail we were on washed out from right under our feet, and we ended up sliding down the side of the mountain. We lost our map, and some other gear, in that mess and ended up wondering around for several days, until we came across this small village. All of the inhabitants were oriental, so I thought we'd came across a China town type deal, but when Ryouga asked one of the people, we found out we were actually in China. Don't ask me how, I don't even remember crossing the ocean, but somehow we ended up over there.

"We spent about a month wandering around China trying to find where we were. Then one day, Ryouga somehow slipped out of my sight and I lost him. I spent the next several hours trying to find him, but with no luck. So I continued wandering around China, hoping to find a port so I could make my way back to America. Though how I would explain my presence in China to begin with, I have no clue.

"Then one night, while I was cooking my dinner, a person dressed in a dirty white gi, and a cloth over their head to make some sort of mask, came rushing out of the brush and went for my food. When he grabbed my dinner, I tried to stop him, and the person lashed out with a punch. I remembered one of the moves Ryouga taught me and used a judo move on him, and I guess I surprised him because I threw him over my shoulder and into a log next to my bedroll. Needless to say that, when I threw him into the log, that knocked him out cold. I used some rope I had in my pack and tied him up. I then removed the mask and saw Ranma for the first time."

"What! He tried to steal your food? Ohh, that baka!" Akane said getting angry very quickly. Steve quickly turned around on the stool and placed her hands so it looked like a T.

"Time-out Akane. Before you go and hurt Red, let me continue first, please?" Steve asked and waited until she saw Akane nod her head, but still had the angry look to her face.

"I found out that his father had him doing that as part of his 'training', and he was surprised that I was able to beat him. Actually he was pretty upset that he lost to me, and to injure his pride more, he found out that I had only trained in the martial arts for three months. He really hated it that I beat him with three months training when he had over ten years of it, but we talked and soon became friends."

"I can't believe you became friends with him when he tried to steal your food like that." Akane said. Steve had noticed her smile when she heard about how Steve beat Ranma, and then regain her anger when she heard Steve say that he became friends with Ranma.

"Well, it was more out of respect than anything else. After we talked for a bit, I released him and shared my meal with him. I told him about what was going on with me and he told me about most of his life. I felt sorry for him from what he told me, and he offered to help me continue in my training. Later on, Ranma's father came into the campsite to look for Ranma, and when he found out how Ranma had lost to me, he started shouting at Ranma. Ranma later on 'persuaded' his father to bring me along. That was how I met those two."

"I still can't believe you made friends with him."

"I try and look at the good in everyone, sort of my down fall at times."

"Oh, um, how did you come across that bruise?" Akane's anger left her when she saw the look Steve had on her face after she had said her last statement.

"That I got when we were at Jusenkyo. We went there because Genma said it was a great training ground to train in. Since I wasn't that good yet, they were the ones that were going to use the place while I watched to gain pointers. The guide came out and kept trying to talk them out of it, but Genma wouldn't listen. While he was arguing, I struck up another conversation with Ranma.

"He's an interesting guy, not to boost his ego anymore than it already is. He can do things that look like they belong on a Hong Kong movie screen, but he's almost completely socially inept. The only person he's really been close to is his dad, and you've seen how they get along. He doesn't have any concept of small talk, really. I think the most complicated way he knows how to express himself is through a challenge to a duel. Or maybe insults, in my opinion, I think that's why he acts the way he does around you. He's an okay kid, rough around the edges, but then who isn't?

"Anyway, finally, Genma haggled the guide into letting them train on the poles that stuck out of the springs. They jumped up, and started darting about in midair. It was something to see. Ranma, hell, the kid's practically poetry in motion. It was like the second coming of Bruce Lee. His dad went splash. And then he came roaring up, in Panda mode. I was just too freaked by this to do anything more than wonder, "How in hell does he balance like that?"

"Ranma was so shocked at what he saw, that he got decked by his dad. He then started falling towards a spring. I didn't understand why he was belly flopping like that, he should know how to take a fall better, right? Maybe not. I don't think he's been trained in how to lose with grace, but he went splash. I ran over to the spring to see if he was all right and I was surprised when a redheaded girl surfaced instead of him.

"When Ranma came out of the Spring of Drowned Girl, she was practically insane. She stood stock still in the middle of the pond for almost a minute, just staring down at her breasts. Anyway, she turned to look at me with this horrorstruck gaze, and then she looked at the Guide, and then she looked at her father, who just realized that he was a panda. She let out this howling scream when she figured out what had happened. I've never seen anything as frightening as the expression on her face when she stared at the panda. It was like there was a demon in front of me, not a talented martial artist. Ranma was all but out of her skull right afterwards, and she went after her father, who swears that he hadn't realized that he was cursed when he threw Ranma like that, by the way, and I really thought she was going to try and kill the guy.

"Anyway, she shrieked again, and leapt out of the spring, running at her father with murder in her eyes. Genma realized what his "son" was up to and ran off. Now, the smart thing for me to do would have been to let Ranma eviscerate her father and take this opportunity to get the hell away from them, but I didn't, and when Ranma came charging out of the spring, she shoved me into the spring next to the one she'd came out of. At the time, I wasn't to worried that I changed, because of the look I saw on her face. The only thing I noticed at the time was I was still human, but smaller, so I went after them.

"I ran harder than I've ever have before or since that day. Ranma was still getting used to her new body, and so was Genma, so they probably weren't working at a hundred percent, but they were still much faster than I was. I followed them into the mountains, hoping to find some way to get around in front of them so I could talk the kid out of patricide. As I rounded a corner on one of the mountain trails, caught sight of Genma bumping into some guy. Then Ranma smacked into him, knocking him off the cliff. She never even looked back while this poor innocent guy got knocked off the mountain and fell towards the pools. I didn't get a close look at the guy, but I hope whatever he wound up with wasn't too horrible. Nobody deserves to be cursed like this.

"By now, I was really pissed off by what the kid had done to that guy, so I threw everything I had into catching up to them. The chase came to an end high up on the mountain, just a little bit above the timberline. Ranma had caught up with her father, and I think she'd managed to get a few blows in because the panda was fighting back. But the kid was practically berserk and the panda didn't have a prayer. She got in one lucky punch and Genma went sprawling. She stood over him for a few seconds, breathing heavily, and then she reached way back. Before Ranma could let that killing blow fly I jumped in between him and the panda. An instant later, I was wondering if someone had got the number of the truck that had hit me. Then the world went black on me.

"I came to in the Guide's little cabin. If you think this bruise is ugly now you should have seen it then. I'm amazed the kid didn't break any of my ribs, even through it felt like they were, but he claims that even in the full force of his berserk fury he was able to pull his punch to avoid doing that. It was then that I found out what my curse was. Needless to say I was glad I was still human and not an animal. The guide handed me a mirror so I could look at what I now looked like. The guide told me I fell in the Spring of Drowned Young Girl, which is why I look younger in both forms, I guess.

"Anyway, I saw that Ranma was sitting in the corner looking completely horrified when I set the mirror back down. "I hit a girl," she was saying. "I hit a girl." Over and over and over again. "Actually," I muttered, "you didn't hit a..." Then I decided not to lay an even worse load on her. I gave the guide a "c'mere" gesture so I could speak softly enough for just him to hear. Unfortunately he didn't speak Japanese as well as I did, and I guess my accent didn't make things any easier. I got the feeling that he didn't understand what I was saying. "Man, I wish you could speak English," I finally blurted out in frustration.

"He blinked. "Well, why didn't you just ask?" he said in a British accent. I wasted time by saying, "You speak English," and making similar observations. Turns out he was born in Hong Kong and had actually gone to school over in Britain for a few years, before his family moved to the People's Republic when he was twenty. He took over the job of being the guide from his uncle when he was twenty-two. Don't ask me why. I gathered it had something to do with his family's politics.

"Anyway, I told him about the guy and asked him to see if he could find him, which he assured me that he would. I asked him where the Panda was, and he told me that he'd sent Genma off to find dinner, putting his faith in the superior senses of the panda combined with the intelligence of a man. I contemplated telling him what I thought of Genma's intelligence, but I figured that he probably already knew about that. Then I decided to try and get up. It was a bit of an effort but I did come to my feet and walked towards Ranma. Wobbly, but I walked.

""C'mon, kid, we got to have a man-to-man talk." I said to her when I finally made it over to her. "B-but ... I'm not a man..." she muttered to me. "That's one of the things we got to talk about. Let's go." I pulled her up to her feet. I led her out to the two pools where all of this had begun. We stood in silence for a few moments. A wind kicked up some dust. "Ranma," I said finally. "Why were you trying to kill your father?" "I wasn't! I ... I didn't want to..." Ranma started but I cut her off.

""Listen, kid, I know the difference between somebody punching just to lay a hit on somebody and somebody trying to seriously hurt them! Believe me, I've been on the receiving end of enough of them to tell. Now, your dad did a terrible thing knocking you into the pool, when he didn't understand on what would happen, but that doesn't give you the right to go apeshit like that!"

""But it's all his fault!" she shouted. "And whose fault do you think this is?" I roared, pointing at my new body. "If I were looking for somebody to blame, Ranma, I'd start with you! But, Ranma, and this is the key here, a 'man' does not go looking for someone to blame when things go wrong. A 'man' copes with it. A 'man' finds a way to deal with the situation, without going nuts. If you can't do that, Ranma, then by God you've lost your manhood in more ways than one today, and you'll never get it back even if you find a cure for the curse."

"I still can't believe I came up with all that. Don't give me that look, I know what your thinking, but if I told her to be "a grown-up" or maybe "someone mature" it wouldn't have gotten through to the kid, and what I said did, I guess. We stayed out there talking for a bit before we headed back to the cottage. Genma-panda was back, and the Guide told me that they had found the poor fellow that Ranma had knocked into the spring. It was probably just as well that he'd decided to book it before we got back. I get the feeling that it might have been messy if the guy had seen the "woman" responsible for his present condition.

"When we had calmed down a bit, and had a very small meal, I asked the guide about a cure, after I dragged him off to the side. He said that we could try jumping in the Spring of Drowned Man, but that the last person to do that hadn't come out 'quite' right, and I don't want to elaborate. Then we set off after getting our gear ready and changing back with hot water, heading for the nearest port. The guide stayed with us for a while, until certain events made it necessary for us to part company. I hope he's okay, though."

"Why? What happened to him?"

"Uh, that's another long story, Akane. What I can say is that the guide insisted on escorting us to the nearest port so that we could get on the boat to Japan. Unfortunately, what with one thing and another he had to leave before we got there. All I can say is, it's been a very busy three weeks and if I tell you all the nuttiness that we've gotten into we'll be here 'til morning, and I still need to soak in the furo before I freeze to death."

"Okay. See you tomorrow." Akane got up and left the bathroom. But before she left the bathroom, she turned around and walked back over to Steve. "I forgot to finish my half of our deal. The reason I didn't hit you before was that I felt sorry for hitting you when you were not the one that deserved it. That and you look like a little kid at the moment, even if I now know you are really 24, I don't hit little kids. That and you seem to have fun getting back at the baka."

"Well, I wouldn't call it fun." Steve said, as she got ready to step into the furo.

"Oh, just to let you know, I don't like it when people walk in on me in the bath." Akane said smiling as she pushed Steve into the furo and started to walk out of the room.

Steve surfaced in the furo, had changed back to a male, and looked over at Akane as she was leaving the room. As he soaked in the furo, he laughed at what Akane had done, then he got out of the furo, put on his clothes and headed to the guest room that he was sharing with Ranma and Genma.

A PARK IN THE JUUBAN WARD

"Supreme thunder dragon!" Jupiter shouted out in anger.

Jupiter frowned as her attack just bounced off her target. Her enemy was a little over six feet tall, had three inch claws, and a three-toed foot, with one in the back, with claws. It was white and black, except for its eyes and a few gem like parts on its chin and forehead, which were red. The black areas on the monster appeared to be armor plates. The plates on its head made it look like it was wearing a helmet.

Jupiter watched as the others launched their attacks at the monster and winced as they just bounced off as well. Everyone was becoming worried. It had already knocked Saturn, Chibi-Moon, Neptune, and Venus out. Mercury was busy scanning the monster, and having a hard time coming up with anything. Uranus went in with her soul sword, but the monster just grabbed the sword with its left hand and her neck with its right. It lifted her up and threw her into the other Senshi. Uranus landed badly and hissed in pain.

The monster decided that the Senshi were not going to be a problem, so it continued on its mission, and the Senshi saw that the monster was leaving the area and realized that they had to stop it. As they chased after it, the monster saw that they were coming, so it grabbed a nearby trashcan and threw it at them. All of the Senshi dodged out of the way except Mars, and the trashcan knocked her down. Sailor Moon helped her up and they all looked worried as the monster started heading out of the Park.

"What are we going to do? None of our attacks seem to be working at all." Sailor Moon said.

"We've got to stop it before it injures any more people." Jupiter said.

"Mercury, do you have anything yet on this monster?" Mars asked impatiently.

"All I can figure out until I study these readings closer. So far all I've got, is that it is very heavily armored, so we have to hit it with our most powerful attacks all at once. That hopefully should do it." Mercury said uncertainly.

"Okay, let's do it." Moon said then called out to the Monster. "Hey, weirdoid, we are not finished here."

The monster turned around in annoyance and glared at the Senshi like they were a pest that needed to be swatted away. So the monster decided to take out the annoyance. The remaining Senshi saw that the monster was heading towards them with a look to its face saying that if their plan didn't work, they were dead. Just as the monster got near them, they released their most powerful attacks at it in the chest.

The monster looked on in surprise as the attacks hit him. Then he screamed in pain as the attacks overwhelmed his armor and he disappeared in a ray of black light. Once the monster disappeared, the remaining Senshi collapsed to their knees in exhaustion. The injured Senshi regained conscious and walked over to the others, looking around in worry. The others told them that the monster was destroyed, but that it had taken a lot out of them. So they headed away from the park to their own homes to rest.

TSUKINO RESIDENCE, JUUBAN WARD, TOKYO THAT NIGHT

Usagi was in her bed sleeping, with Luna sleeping at her feet. She'd had her average day of barely making it to class on time, having detention because of falling asleep in class, and then being a few minutes late to meet her friends at Rei's shrine, and then having an argument with her parents about her grade on a test. Then fighting a monster that had forced them to use their most powerful attacks just to hurt it. When all that was over, she'd crawled into bed and fallen asleep, then she started dreaming.

Usagi found herself dressed as Princess Serenity, and standing in some sort of Ball Room. She walked around the room wondering why she was the only one there. She was getting nervous and worried when a female voice called out her name. She turned around and found Queen Serenity, her mother from the Moon kingdom, standing there.

"Mother! What are you doing here?" Usagi asked her mother in surprise.

"I needed to talk to you." Queen Serenity said seriously.

"What is it about?" Usagi asked because she caught the tone of voice her mother used.

"A new enemy is coming, and I'm afraid that you and your fellow Senshi will not be strong enough to face them. They are a deadly force and I fear you will all perish. You need help to face them and survive."

"We already fought one of them and it nearly defeated us. We had to use all of our strongest attacks on it at once and that just defeated it. Who do we need to get to help us, mother?"

"I want you to find the Senshi of the Star Kingdom."

"Star Kingdom? Who are they, I don't remember anything about them."

"They are a Kingdom that didn't get along with us very well. You, and only you, will need to look for them and try and get their help."

"Can you tell me anything about them, to help me find them? And why must it be me alone?"

"All I can tell you is that two of their members are related to two of the Moon Kingdom and they will not be favorable if they meet any of the other Senshi, I'm afraid to say."

"Can't I tell anyone about them?"

"I'm afraid that you can't tell anyone about what I need you to do, not even Luna or Artemis."

"Yes, mother, I'll try my best to find them and get their help by myself."

"I know you will my daughter, but our time here is short. So you must find the Senshi of the Star Kingdom soon. The new enemy is very strong, so be careful my daughter. I love you. I'm sorry I can't be any more helpful."

Before Usagi could ask her mother any more questions, she faded from view. Usagi was confused by what her mother told her, and she was thinking about it as the Ball Room faded from view and replaced with her ceiling of her bedroom. She blinked her eyes a few times and realized that she was awake and the dream was over. She sat up and looked around her room. She found Luna at the foot of her bed and decided to wake her up to talk to her.

"Hey, Luna, wake up." Usagi said nudging the cat.

"What is it, Usagi?" Luna asked sleepily.

"I had a dream with my mother in it." Usagi replied in excitement.

"What is so special about that?" Luna asked, not understanding.

"It was my mother from the Silver Millennium." Usagi said when she saw Luna about to go back to sleep.

"What? It was?" Luna said, now wide-awake.

"Yes."

"What did she want?"

"She told me that we won't be able to defeat the new enemy that we are facing, , but she wouldn't say anything else about them."

"That's bad if she would tell you that."

"Luna, what do you know about the Star Kingdom?" Usagi asked and then saw Luna just staring at her. "Hey Luna? You okay?"

"Did you just say the Star Kingdom?"

"Yes, why? All that I remember is that our Kingdom and theirs were not on good terms."

"That is an understatement. Their views of leadership were very different than ours, and they didn't want to have much to do with us. If they're going to be the ones controlling this new threat, then we need to be ready."

"Why? I really don't think they are the one's controlling the new enemy." Usagi said, knowing that she couldn't tell Luna why she was really asking about the Star Kingdom.

"Even if they aren't, I'll tell all of you at Rei's shrine tomorrow. What I have to say, I would rather say only once."

"Oh, okay, Goodnight then Luna. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight Usagi."

After Usagi fell back asleep, Luna stayed awake to think about what Usagi had just told her. She couldn't believe that Queen Serenity would tell them that they were going to be attacked by the Star Kingdom Senshi, hell; she didn't think they were alive or had been reborn like the Moon Kingdom Senshi were. She knew that the others would be surprised at what she was going to tell them, but if they were the enemy that Queen Serenity said that even she feared was coming, she had to tell them all she knew about them as soon as possible. She hoped that Usagi was correct and they weren't the new threat, but she knew that the Senshi had to know about the Star Kingdom. She drifted off to sleep fearing what the other Senshi would do.

xxxx

TENDO DOJO THE NEXT MORNING

"School?" asked Ranma, saying the word as though it was part of a foreign language. Ranma and Steve were sitting in the living room area in front of Genma. They all had finished breakfast an hour ago, which Steve had surprised the Tendo's by helping Kasumi. Kasumi had told Steve that he didn't need to help, but he had insisted on helping out wherever he could. Both Steve and Ranma were still in their workout clothes since they had done some training before breakfast. After they had finished eating, and the dishes were taken care of, Genma had called both of them over to have a talk with them.

"Well," his father explained, "we are going to be staying here awhile, so I have enrolled both of you in Furinkan High."

"I'm 24, why do I need to go to High School?" Steve asked Genma.

"Your Japanese still needs work, and as you said, you can always still learn more in school."

Nabiki stepped past the door to the living room on her way to the front door. She was dressed in the green and white girls' uniform of Furinkan High School. "It's the same school Akane and I go to," she informed Ranma and Steve with a crooked smile. "See you there."

"Wait oneechan!" came a voice from down the corridor. "I'll go with you!"

Nabiki turned to look down the corridor in surprise. "What're you talking about? Ranma is your fiancée remember? And since Steve is a friend of his, you ought to walk them to school."

Akane stepped into the view of those in the living room. Steve noticed that on Nabiki, the uniform looked utilitarian in a business suit style. Akane, on the other hand, made her school uniform look almost like a party dress. Steve figured that she would probably look good in anything. Akane took a look at Ranma and Steve could see that she still had some hatred for Ranma.

"You two aren't going to school dressed like that are you?" Akane said flatly.

"I am not wearing a uniform." Ranma said. "Especially with this stupid curse."

"Since it appears that I'll be going to school again, and from what I heard about the uniform policy of Japan here, we have to wear something appropriate to school." Steve told Ranma.

"I don't want to wear a uniform." Ranma grumbled.

"Well hurry up, I don't want to be late for school." Akane growled.

"Hey, Red, why don't we wear the clothes we got in Shanghai?"

Ranma grumbled about it for a moment. "Awright. What about that red shirt?"

"Sounds good to me, lets go." Steve replied.

So Steve and Ranma went upstairs to change clothes. A few moments later, Steve and Ranma were more appropriately dressed. Akane saw that Ranma had changed into a set of clothes similar to the one that he had first arrived in. She saw that Steve was dressed in a similar outfit, but it was of a different color. They both are wearing the black pants and the same shoes, but the difference was in the colors of the shirts. While Ranma was wearing a red silk shirt with yellow ties, Steve was wearing a black silk shirt with dark purple ties. After Steve and Ranma picked up the lunches Kasumi made for them and their book bags, they headed out towards school.

While walking to school, Akane noticed that Steve and Ranma were walking on the fence. She also saw that Ranma was walking on it like it was nothing, but she saw that Steve was having a little trouble, but he was maintaining his balance. Akane thought that Ranma was being a showoff, the way he was walking, but she was wondered why they were walking on the fence in the first place.

"Why are you guys walking up there?" Akane asked looking up at them. Ranma and Steve looked back down to her.

"A Tomboy like you wouldn't understand." Ranma told Akane. Akane's anger suddenly started to build.

"Red, chill. How do you know she wouldn't understand?" Steve asked Ranma as if he wasn't making sense.

"She's a Tomboy."

"That is not a good reason, and you know it." Steve said as Ranma just looked away. Steve then looked down to Akane. "To let you know, Genma told me that this was for balance training. He had said that I should take any chance to practice that as I can."

"Oh. Isn't that hard to do?" Akane asked.

"If you're just beginning like I am, but once you now how to maintain your balance, it gets very easy." Steve replied.

"Can you show me how to do that?" Akane asked.

"Well, how about after school?" Steve told her.

"Why then?" She asked.

"Well, right now we need to get to school for us to register, and I don't want you to try it dressed like you are now." Steve said.

"Why not?"

"I don't think you want to try walking on the fence in a dress, do you?"

"No!" Akane stated when she figured out why Steve was reluctant to help her now, and minorly blushed.

"A tomboy like her wouldn't be able to balance herself." Ranma said. Akane's embarrassment suddenly turned to anger and she threw her book bag at Ranma. Unfortunately she missed Ranma and hit Steve instead. Because Steve was still learning to keep his balance, he couldn't stay balanced and fell into the channel on the other side of the fence. Steve crawled out of the channel and over the fence to stand on the road and started to ring as much water out of her clothes as she could.

"I'm sorry, Steve, I didn't mean to hit you." Akane quickly apologized to Steve. She felt sorry for her, because she had been nice to her and Akane really had wanted to hit Ranma, but her aim had been a little off. She had then picked up her school bag again and aimed at Ranma.

"That's alright, Akane. No harm done." Steve replied as she continued to ring water out of her clothes.

"I told you, you couldn't hit what you were aiming for. Some macho chick you are." Ranma said while still on the fence railing. Akane's embarrassment suddenly turned to anger again, but as she was about to throw her book bag at Ranma again, she stopped suddenly when she saw Mr. Saotome run up behind Ranma on the fence railing and hit him in the back of the head.

"Pop! What're you ..." Ranma started to say to his father as he turned to face him, but was interrupted by his father.

"You're in no position to be choosy about women!" Genma shouted at his son. "Listen, Ranma, I'll tell you only once ..."

Genma's explanation was cut short by Ranma kicking his father off the fence, and knocking into the channel below. Genma resurfaced as a panda, and glared at his son as best as he could.

"What's wrong, Pop? Panda got your tongue?" Ranma said teasing his father. Just then, the panda jumped out of the channel and onto the fence. Akane had run behind Steve when the panda jumped out of the channel. Ranma and his father started fighting on the fence railing. Akane was amazed at how well the panda was fighting, and when she turned to face Steve to see how she was reacting to what was happening, Akane saw that Steve had a bored expression on her face. Akane turned back to the fight and saw Ranma jump over a punch from his father, and landed on the street. "Ha, check that out!"

Ranma suddenly was splashed with some cold water. Akane saw the change that Ranma had, as she watched Ranma look down on herself. Water was dripping off of Ranma as she stood there, thinking how she got splashed, and looked over and saw an old woman watering down her walk way to her house.

"Something wrong?" Akane asked after a moment, teasing Ranma.

"Com'on Stacko, let's go take a bath." Ranma said after she tightened her belt on her pants and grabbed Steve's arm and started heading back to the Tendo Dojo.

"Uh, okay." Steve said uncertainly.

"You'll both be late." Akane said.

"Think I want to start school as a girl?" Ranma asked Akane.

"But if we just pour hot water on the both of you, you'll turn back, right?" Akane replied to Ranma.

"She's got a point there, Red, plus we are running short on time to get to school." Steve said.

"Awright." Ranma grumbled after a bit.

The three of them had made their way to a local clinic where Akane said that they could get some hot water. Steve and Ranma stood outside by the outer wall to the clinic while Akane went to get the water. Both of them sighed in relief as they saw Akane go inside the clinic. They leaned against the wall to wait until Akane returned. Ranma started to think then.

"Hooo boy. What a way to start the ..." Ranma's thoughts were interrupted when she heard Steve scream out in fright and looked up and saw Steve up on the top on the wall, looking behind her like there was a scary monster there. Ranma spun around and got into a ready stance. All that Ranma saw was a man in his Mid-twenty's, who was wearing a dark greenish-gray gi, glasses and holding a skeleton. Ranma was surprised that he had been able to sneak up upon the both of them.

"Oh. Pardon me." Said the man. "Nothing to worry about, you two. This is Betty, my skeleton."

Ranma got out of her stance, even though she was a little confused. Steve got down from the wall and Ranma noticed a minor blush of embarrassment on Steve's face. It was at that moment that Akane came out with the hot water.

"Ranma, Stack, here's the hot ..." Akane said, but stopped short when she saw who was with them.

"Well, Akane!" Exclaimed the man.

"Oh, doctor. Um ... Good morning." Akane said as she bowed to the man and set the kettle on top of Ranma's head.

"Good morning to you." Replied the doctor cheerfully.

Ranma and Steve were looking back and forth between the doctor and Akane, in the momentary silence, Ranma and Steve took a look at Akane and saw several things. First they saw that she was looking down at the ground, she had a small blush to her cheeks, and her whole attitude seemed to have taken a whole reversal to what the boys were used to. After a moment, Ranma felt Steve pushing her around the corner and take the kettle off her head. Ranma got the point and they walked around the corner. While they were walking around the corner they heard the doctor and Akane talking again.

"You haven't been by lately. No new injuries?" Asked the doctor.

"No, sir. I mean I haven't been doing anything that would ..." Akane was saying but Ranma and Steve went around the corner and couldn't hear anything else.

"Interesting." Ranma said as he changed back.

"I'll say." Steve said as Ranma poured the remainder of the water on him.

After they were done at the doctor's place, they realized that they were running out of time to make it to school on time, so they ran to school. Akane and Steve are running on the road, while Ranma was running on the fence railing. After a bit, Ranma decided to figure something out.

"Who is that guy?" Ranma asked Akane.

"Dr. Tofu, the Chiropractor." Akane replied happily.

"Martial arts master, too, isn't he?" Ranma asked.

"Huh? How could you tell?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Sneaking up on me and Stack like that. He erased all sense of his presence." Ranma said thoughtfully.

"True, he's very good." Akane started. "But he doesn't look like he'd be, does he? Ever since I was little, he's taken care of my injuries."

Ranma had hopped down on the street because the fence ran out. They ran for a little bit longer until the school's gate was in view, when Steve had a question for Akane.

"So, Akane, isn't he a man?" Steve asked.

"Yes, so?" Akane asked back, confused.

"I thought you said you hate men?" Steve asked.

"...." Was all Akane said as she looked down to the ground. "That's right."

"I..." Akane started saying angrily as they got closer to the gate.

"Despise ... "Steve and Ranma watched as several boys came running towards them in different sports equipment and gear. They were all shouting out their love for Akane and saying how the other's wanted to beat her up.

"Men!" Akane yelled as she went charging into the group of boys and started fighting.

Steve was wondering what was going on when Ranma grabbed the back of his shirt and jumped up to the ledge of the brick wall to watch the fight. Steve and Ranma were surprised at the fierceness of the fight. Steve and Ranma flinched at times at some of the areas where Akane had hit her opponents. The both of them looked at each other and silently agreed to not get in her way. They continued watching as Akane brutally beat up her opponents. On the second floor of the school, a group of girls were also watching the fight.

"Your poor sister. Every single day." One of the girls said to another girl who turned out to be Nabiki.

"Oh, Ranma and Stacko." Nabiki said then yelled down to them. "Ranma, Stacko! Get in this school now!"

Steve and Ranma looked up to find where the voice had came from, and found Nabiki waving to them. Both of them looked back at the fight and saw that Akane was almost finished with her fight. They looked back at Nabiki and pointed at Akane's fight.

"But, but..." Both Ranma and Steve were stuttering.

"Don't worry about Akane!" Nabiki shouted to them.

Both Ranma and Steve looked back at Akane and found that she had finished her fight. All of the boys that were fighting her were on the ground, unconscious, moaning in pain, or covered in bruises. They looked at Akane and saw her breathing hard and a fine sheet of sweat on her forehead. She grabbed her hair and threw it behind her.

"For Pete's sake, every morning. What a drag." Akane said out loud to no one in particular.

"Truly such a boorish lot." Came a male voice from behind a tree.

Akane, Steve, and Ranma looked in that direction and saw a person step out from behind the tree. The person was dressed in a kendo outfit, complete with a bokken in his right hand. He was standing there bare footed and was about as tall as Steve. He has short black hair, and held himself as if he was someone important. He held a rose in his left hand and was smelling it as he walked from behind the tree.

"Evidently each of them intends to ask you out, Akane," The man started saying with a poetic tone to his voice. "On the dawn that he finally defeats you."

"Oh upperclassman Kuno. Good morning." Akane said with a bored tone of voice.

"And now Akane Tendo..." Kuno said as he tossed the rose he was smelling over to Akane, which she caught in her left hand. "Might you fight with me?"

At that moment, Steve got tired of being up on the wall and hopped down to land near Akane. Once he got his balance back, he turned to face Akane and asked a question that popped into his head.

"Man, you're popular here, aren't you?" Steve asked her.

"Stay out of the way. You'll get hurt." Akane warned Steve as she got into a defensive stance.

"What's going on?" Steve asked confused as what was going on.

"You'll see." Was her only answer.

Just then, a wooden sword was thrust into Steve's face and missed him by about a foot. Steve looked along the sword and saw that it was Kuno that was holding it, and had an angry look to his face.

"You there." Kuno asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Yes?" Steve asked.

"You are being quite familiar with Akane." Kuno announced.

"Uh, yes, well..." Steve started mumbling trying to figure out what Kuno was getting at, but was interrupted by Kuno.

"Who are you boor? Ah! But it is the custom to give one's own name first. Fine then! Mine I shall give." Kuno said loudly, but with that poetic way of saying it.

"Uh, okay. If you want..." Steve started to say, but got interrupted by Kuno again.

"My name is upperclassmen Kuno. Junior. Group E. Captain of the Kendo club. Undefeated new star in the fencing world. But my peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High." Kuno said as his introduction. But when he said the 'Blue Thunder' part in his intro, a flash of lightening occurred, that made Ranma and Steve look up in the sky and noticed how gloomy it was getting. But unknown to them all, three girls were talking.

"'Blue Thunder'?" Asked one of Nabiki's friends.

"Have you heard that?" Asked another girl.

"News to me." Nabiki said.

Steve wanting to end this discussion quickly before it rains, and his cursed form, plus Ranma's, was revealed, started to think of what he wanted to say to Kuno.

"Okay, well, at the moment I'm staying at the Tendo practice hall..." Steve started saying, but suddenly he noticed that Kuno was pissed off all of the sudden.

"What! Under the same roof as Akane." Kuno shouted and then struck out at Steve. Steve had enough warning to try and dodge the sword slash that Kuno sent at him.

But Steve wasn't fast enough and the tip of the bokken hit Steve on his left side of his chest. That caused a searing pain to go through him, and he fell to the ground clutching his left side and hissing in pain. Kuno realizing that his opponent was down and easy to take care of, went in for the killing strike. Steve saw the strike coming and held his arms up to lessen the blow. Akane saw what was going to happen, but she was the farthest away and knew she couldn't stop the blow.

Akane watched helplessly as the blade started to come down at Steve, and started towards Steve, even though she knew she was not going to make it on time. Kuno inwardly smiled as he brought down his bokken to smite the villain that was invading Akane's domicile. But just as the bokken was about to hit its target, someone grabbing the blade part of the bokken stopped it.

Kuno looked up from Steve and saw another boy, dressed in Chinese clothing, red silk shirt and black pants, with black hair that was done up in a pigtail. He was surprised that someone had been able to stop his bokken. The boy then kicked Kuno in the stomach and Kuno skidded a few feet away. Kuno looked at him with confusion and mild anger. Akane had just made it over to Steve to see how he was doing.

"Who are you, cur?" Kuno asked as he charged towards the boy. But before he was able to strike the boy with his bokken, the boy flipped back to avoid the bokken strike.

"I am heir to the Saotome Anything-goes martial arts." The boy said as he was flipping back and taking off his school bag. He tossed his bag over to Steve. "Here, watch my bag for a sec."

"I am Ranma Saotome," Ranma said as he landed several feet away and got into a ready stance. "And I accept your challenge."

Lightning flashed in the sky as Ranma made that announcement. The surrounding people that were conscious were surprised that someone would challenge Kuno. Word quickly spread through school and mostly everyone was lined up to the windows to see the fight. The students were saying that the boy must have been living dangerously.

"So, you scoundrel. Hounding Akane, eh?" Kuno asked as he sized up his opponent. "I, Upperclassmen Kuno, shall bring you to justice."

"So who's hounding anybody?" Ranma asked.

"They're only staying with us Kuno." Akane yelled at him.

"Silence fool!" Kuno shouted as he charged Ranma.

Kuno ran towards Ranma with his bokken above his head. Just as Kuno struck at Ranma, Ranma disappeared, and Kuno ended up slashing through the school stone fence wall. Steve was surprised that a wooden sword could go through a stonewall. Kuno was surprised that Ranma was not there to receive his punishment. He looked around and found Ranma standing on the side of a nearby tree, as if he was defying gravity. Akane was impressed at what she was seeing, after she made sure that Steve was all right.

Kuno then slashed out towards Ranma again, and only ended up slicing through the tree. Steve was glad that he was able to dodge that bokken strike with only receiving a glance blow. Kuno realizing he missed his target again, went and looked for his target. He turned around and found Ranma several yards away from him with the tree he just sliced through landing in between them.

"Now hold on." Ranma said as all of a sudden he was standing right in Kuno's face. That caused Kuno to take a few steps back and had Ranma step with him. "Let me make this perfectly clear ..."

"Astounding." Akane thought as she saw Ranma fighting Kuno. "He was there before Kuno could blink."

"... Akane means nothing to me." Ranma finished saying.

"Hmmm. This guy is good." Kuno thought as he was being forced back by Ranma.

"If you want a crazy, violent chick like her ... you can have her." Ranma stated to Kuno.

Akane couldn't believe that Ranma said that. She got angry at him and grabbed his bag and threw it at him.

"Why you baka!" Akane shouted as she threw the bag at Ranma.

"Would you quit calling me a..." Ranma started as his danger sense picked up trouble.

Steve in the mean time had stood up and tried to calm Akane down, but was stopped and stared at the fight that was going on. He watched as Ranma jumped up to avoid the bag and the bokken strike. He heard Kuno talking to Ranma about speaking ill of Akane, and him forbidding it. Steve was still amazed that a wooden sword could cut through anything, because the strike that Steve saw cut through Ranma's bag like it was nothing.

Steve watched as Ranma was coming back down with two fingers extended out towards Kuno. Kuno on the other hand, brought his bokken up in order to strike out at Ranma. It was then that Steve suddenly felt drops of rain hitting him. He realized that it was raining now and that he and Ranma would change if they didn't get out of it in a hurry. He started toward to Ranma as Ranma started coming down. Steve was able to see Ranma point his two fingers at Kuno, and Kuno had brought his bokken up so it was at the side of Ranma's neck.

Steve felt the rain get harder and suddenly started feeling the change begin. Just as Ranma was about to land, Steve heard heavy footsteps and turned and saw Mr. Saotome running in his panda form, with a steaming kettle in paw. Just as Steve was about to make it to Ranma, he felt the change take effect. As he was about to worry about what other might say when they saw the change, a hairy arm grabbed him and he realized that it was Mr. Saotome.

Steve saw Genma run towards Ranma as he landed, pick Ranma up and punch Kuno out of the way. Steve was a little cramped because Genma had place Ranma under the same arm that Steve was under also, but Genma had run off to the far side of the school.

The rest of the school was surprised at what just happened. They had just seen a panda come running into the school grounds, on its hind feet, knock out Kuno and run off with the two new students. Akane was standing there speechless until she regained her senses and followed after the running panda. She found them in the Physical Education equipment room, and went to climb in through the window, as she was climbing in, she heard Ranma talking.

"Dang it." Ranma said as she and Steve were ringing water out of their clothes. Genma was standing by the door coming an eye out for trouble. "If it hadn't rained, I would have nailed that baka with one..."

"I wouldn't be to sure." Akane laughed, making them turn.

The three in the room looked and saw Akane climbing into the room. When Steve looked over at Akane, she noticed something on Ranma.

"Red, your neck." Steve said pointing.

Ranma looked at her neck and noticed that there was a bruise there. Ranma was surprised that she had a bruise from having Kuno's bokken just near her neck. As Ranma was contemplating that, Steve was pouring some of the warm water on herself.

"Wow. And he didn't even touch me." Ranma said with a mild surprised voice. Steve walked over to Ranma and started pouring the remainder of the water on her.

"Looks like a pretty even match, wouldn't you say?" Akane asked Ranma as he gained his male form again.

"Oh, I don't know..." Ranma was saying as he was ringing out the extra water out of his hair.

xxxx

In room 2-E, Kuno was looking at his forehead with a mirror that he had purchased, at a high price, to use from Nabiki. He looked at the Kanji that was written there, which said 'Baka'. Nabiki was sitting next to him watching what he was doing.

"Amazing. And you don't even remember being touched?" Nabiki asked amazed at what Ranma had done to Kuno.

"Humph. And at first I thought Ranma Saotome was good, but he can't even spell." Kuno shouted.

Kuno walked over to the chalkboard and grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote on the board on how the word should be written. Nabiki walked up to the board and told him that it was spelled correctly. Kuno then told her on how much he detested her. Nabiki looked up at him and told him how 'glad' she was.

xxxx

A little while later in room 1-F, Ranma and Steve had returned from the office and were standing in front of the class as the teacher introduce them.

"While it does seem that both of them were in China until recently." The teacher said as a closing statement for the class. "That doesn't excuse the fact that both they and Akane Tendo were late. Stand in the hall."

Steve watched as he saw Akane give Ranma a glare as she walked up to the front of class and grab two buckets filled with water and walk out into the hall. Ranma and Steve followed her after they got their own buckets. Steve, seeing that Akane was angry, stood in between Akane and Ranma, then after a few minutes of standing there, Steve thought that it might not have been such a wise choice to stand between the two of them. Akane kept glancing over at Ranma like she wanted to kill him. A few minutes later, Akane broke the silence.

"This is your fault." Akane accused Ranma.

"My fault? It was your fight, remember." Ranma said back to Akane. Steve felt like he was in a tennis match watching both of them argue with each other.

"What was that all about anyway?" Steve asked Akane, in an attempt to distract her, and was rewarded with both of them being surprised. Apparently they both forgot that he was there.

"Well, Kuno told everyone at the beginning of the semester, that the only way for anyone to date me, was for them to defeat me in battle. If someone didn't follow those directions, Kuno went and beat them up." Akane replied feeling a little guilty for forgetting that Steve was with them.

"If you don't mind my saying, I think I see why you hate my gender." Steve said to Akane, shaking his head sadly.

"Um, you could say that was part of it." Akane said with a small blush to her cheeks. Ranma noticed this and smiled.

xxxx

Back in room 2-E, Nabiki had just sold to Kuno some information about Ranma. When Kuno heard the last bit of information, he stood up in class in surprise.

"What! Fiancée?" Kuno shouted out in the class, but was actually talking to Nabiki.

"Uh-huh, my dad and his dad agreed. Akane is going to marry Ranma." Nabiki replied.

"Ranma Saotome..." Kuno said while shaking his fist in the air with anger.

"Kuno. Stand in the hall." Shouted the teacher after he threw an eraser that bounced off Kuno's forehead.

"Yes sensei." Kuno said, a little shocked.

Kuno walked out of the room with his two buckets. He then changed into his kendo outfit, strapped his bokken to his back and ran out of the locker room. He headed towards the classroom where Akane was, thinking about the evil plot that Ranma had Akane in.

"I forbid it." Kuno said to himself angrily.

To Be Continued


	2. Part Two

1This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

by

Stacko

Edited by Lord Dragonbane

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Part Two

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"You mean that you fight Kuno every morning?" Steve asked in surprise at what all Kuno has done to Akane.

"And for some reason I always win." Akane told Steve, who was surprised that he was able to calm Akane down for a bit.

"Well, when a guy fights a girl, he lets up a lot." Ranma said to Akane while he was looking away.

"Don't underestimate me." Akane said to Ranma. "Try me for real sometime."

"No way." Ranma said. "Violent or not, you are still a girl. I couldn't do that."

"How about if you're a girl?" Akane said as she placed one of her buckets down and then grabbed the other bucket and held it like she was about to throw it at Ranma.

"W-wait..." Ranma was stuttering as he was backing away from Akane.

Steve was watching as Ranma was backing away from Akane. It was then that Steve heard someone running in the hall. He was looking up at the same time that Ranma sensed danger. Steve saw Kuno running up and in his Kendo garb, his bokken strapped to his back, and carrying two buckets of water. It was then that Steve watched as Kuno threw one of his buckets of water at Ranma. Ranma jumped out of the way as the water came near him.

"Yah!" Ranma said as he jumped out of the way of the water. When he landed, he looked over and saw Kuno standing there, with an empty bucket of water.

"Never, Ranma Saotome!" Kuno said angrily.

"What do you think you're..." Ranma began saying.

"Upperclassman Kuno..." Akane started saying as Steve got closer to Ranma and her.

"I shall never accept your engagement to Akane!" Kuno shouted out load.

Just then, the windows behind Ranma, Akane, and Steve, flew open and the classroom personnel were at the windows with a surprised look to their faces. Steve looked around and saw that all the boys were at the windows on Ranma's side, and the girls were on Akane's side. Ranma was looking at the boy's while Akane was looking at the girls, and Steve was looking back and forth between the two.

"What! Engagement?" The boys were asking.

"How could you, Akane! And you said you despised men!" The girls were saying to Akane.

Everyone was asking questions left and right. Some of the questions were getting too personnel for Akane, Ranma, and Steve, since one question was asked if they were doing a threesome. The evil glares that Akane and Ranma gave that person, shut that person up right away.

"Wait! It's not true! It's..." Akane started to say.

"Our parents decided! We never..." Ranma tried to explain.

It was then that Kuno got tired of being ignored, and went to strike Ranma with his bokken. Ranma had dodged out of the way, but forgot that Steve was behind him. When he looked back, his eyes opened in worry when he saw the bokken heading for Steve, and Ranma knew that he would be to slow to get there in time.

Ranma watched as Steve threw his buckets in line with the bokken and jumped to the left, where Ranma was standing in worry. The bokken had sliced through the two buckets, spilling the water over the floor. The bokken had just missed hitting Steve by a fraction of an inch. Steve rolled on the ground until he was at Ranma's feet and quickly stood up before the water reached him.

"Stand your ground." Kuno said turning towards Ranma and Steve.

"This is no place to fight." Ranma said, turning around and grabbing Steve's sleeve. He started running down the hall, keeping Steve ahead of him. "Follow us."

"That I shall!" Kuno said, chasing after them.

Akane was about starting to run after them, when the classroom emptied out and was following right behind her. It was then that she heard some of the comments that they were saying and a sweat dropped formed behind her head as she ran. As the group was following the three ahead of them, they passed a teacher in the hall that was yelling for them to quit running in the hall.

Ranma and Steve were keeping a good lead in front of Kuno, when Ranma saw an open window up ahead.

"Let's get outside." Ranma said to Steve as he grabbed Steve and threw him out the window. He then turned to face Kuno as he was leaping out the window. "Follow me."

"Fear not." Kuno said as he followed Ranma out the window.

"Hey, this is the third floor!" Yelled one of the classmates as they reached the window that Ranma leaped out of. Ranma failed to notice Kuno's surprised looked or Steve's exclamation of being thrown out a third floor window.

"No sweat. I'm..." Ranma started saying when he then looked down and saw a swimming pool below him. "Yow!"

"Baka!" Akane shouted at Ranma, with a small feeling of concern for Steve.

"Boy, lucky there's a pool there." Said one female classmate.

"Yeah, lucky." Said another male classmate.

"Lucky, he says." Ranma said to himself right before all three of them splashed into the swimming pool.

Everyone was watching the pool closely when Kuno's body floated to the surface, face down, with his bokken floating nearby. They kept looking, but they still didn't see Ranma or Steve surface yet.

"Look, it's Kuno. He's coming up." Said one student.

"But, what's happened to Saotome and Stachowicz?" Asked another student.

Under the water of the pool, Ranma was swimming away, thinking about trying to get away from the situation that she is in. She saw that Steve was in front of her so she swam up to her. Ranma got Steve's attention, Steve turned around and saw Ranma and relaxed a little bit. It was then that Steve saw Kuno's body and pointed up. Ranma looked up and saw Kuno's body also. Ranma decided that she couldn't leave Kuno floating in the water face down, so both of them swam up and Ranma started to swim with Kuno's body to the pool side, and to get some air.

As they were swimming to the end of the pool, it was then that Kuno started coming around. When Kuno got enough bearing, he looked down and saw a person with a pigtail style hairstyle, and since he only knew one person with that hairstyle, he went and grabbed that person.

"Ranma Saotome, I fight on!" Kuno said as he went and wrapped his arms around Ranma's body. Steve had saw what happened and ducked below the surface of the water.

"Gyaaaaaaaaa!!!" Ranma screamed as Kuno wrapped his arms around her body.

"The jig is up." Akane thought when she saw what had happened.

Ranma was waving her arms trying to get free of Kuno's grasp, while saying to let her go at the same time. Kuno held on tight, but when Ranma tried to wiggle out, Kuno shifted his grip on Ranma. Where he gripped his left hand, surprised both of them, but for different reasons. For Kuno, he was surprised because he was all of a sudden, grabbing something round, firm, but yet squishy, that shouldn't be on a male body. Ranma on the other hand, reacted when Kuno grabbed her breast, painfully. Ranma reached behind her and grabbed Kuno's head in a tight grip.

"Pervert!" Ranma yelled as she flipped Kuno over her head, and slammed him on the ground, out of the pool, very hard. Ranma then fell back into the water and came jumping out of the pool with her grip around Steve's waist, and kept jumping out of the pool area and into the woods nearby. Kuno just remained laying on the ground with a surprised look to his face.

"What ... what..." Stuttered one student.

"Ranma's and Steve's body..." Started another student.

"... Didn't they look a little ... smaller all around?" Finished another student.

"Must have been an illusion." Answered another student. Akane used the confusion to sneak away and try and find a kettle of hot water.

In the meantime, Kuno was still lying where Ranma had threw him. He was rethinking what had happen in the last few minutes. He remembered chasing Ranma and the other fellow out of the window, and then landing in the pool. He had taken a short nap and when he woke up, he thought he had Ranma right in front of him, but when he had grabbed that person, that person had a female breast. So with that information in mind, he came to a conclusion.

"A woman. Yes, that was a woman. Which means..." Kuno then suddenly sat up and started shaking his fist, then shouted out loud. "Ranma Saotome, you wretch! Do you think you've escaped?"

Speaking of Ranma, she and Steve were sitting up in a tree on a tree branch, pulling off their pants and ringing out the water out of them. Ranma was complaining all the time about what Kuno had done to her.

"What a pervert. I mean, he didn't have to squeeze that hard." Ranma was complaining while she was wringing the water out of her pants.

"Well, it could be because you were wiggling around so much that he had to get a better grip." Steve was saying while doing the same thing with her pants also.

"I guess, but that hurt a lot." Ranma said.

"I know what you are talking about." Steve said.

"How do you know, you got no breasts." Ranma said, and then yelped when she heard a snap and then a stinging feeling on her back. She looked back at Steve and saw her looking angry at her.

"Red, you need to lose that attitude you have soon, just because this body is younger than yours, doesn't mean it don't have breasts. You, at least, should know that I do have breasts, they may not be as developed as your breasts, but I do have breasts. Not to mention that I also have a sister, and I have been hearing about her problems when they were growing." Steve said angrily to Ranma, who looked apologetic to Steve.

"Sorry, Stack." Ranma said.

"Apology accepted, if you try to learn to think first before speaking." Steve said.

"I'll try." Ranma said. "Well, I guess now Kuno knows about me."

Before Steve was able to reply, a female voice interrupted them.

"You Baka's." Said the familiar female voice. Both of them looked down and saw Akane standing there with her arms behind her back.

"Akane?" Steve asked in confusion.

"What..." Ranma also started asking in confusion.

"Just how dumb can you two be?" Akane said. "I mean, jumping into a pool of your own free will."

"I wouldn't say I jumped in on my free will." Steve said.

"Shut up!" Ranma said, giving Akane the red eye.

"Humph." Akane said, cause Ranma to stop giving her the red eye. "Then maybe I'll just throw away this hot water."

"No!" Steve said loudly when she saw the kettle of hot water that Akane showed them.

"Meanie, meanie." Ranma said, hugging the tree branch when she saw the kettle.

It was then that they all heard some sloshing sound from nearby. All three of them looked in the direction and saw Kuno walking nearby. He was yelling out, in his poetic way of talking, where Ranma was. It was then that Akane decided on a decision.

"Catch!" Yelled Akane as she threw the kettle over her shoulder towards Ranma and Steve.

Unfortunately, her throw was a little short and Ranma had to stretch out to grab it. Akane didn't realize that her throw was short, because she had immediately ran over to confront Kuno. Kuno turned when he heard someone approaching and was expecting Ranma, but was surprised when it was Akane facing him in a ready stance.

"Upperclassman Kuno," Akane said challenging. "I challenge you."

"Akane, oh Akane," Kuno said dramatically. "Never did I dream that YOU would challenge me." Kuno sighs. "So be it."

Kuno then got into a ready stance and got ready to fight Akane.

"If you win, I shall let you go out with me." Kuno said, posing in affect. "Thus I shall lose with all my might."

"Who's asking to go out with you?" Akane shouted, then thought to herself. "Stacko, Ranma, turn back while I buy you guy's time."

The said two were still on the tree branch. Ranma had leapt for the kettle, she got a hold of the kettle, but she was stretched out so far that she was staying on the branch by her feet holding the branch. Steve saw that Ranma was having a little trouble about staying on the branch, so she reached out and grabbed a hold of Ranma's shirttail and tried to pull her back to the tree branch.

Meanwhile, Kuno had started to charge towards Akane, and Akane went into action. As Kuno was coming at her with an overhead swing, she slapped her hands together to stop the bokken and started leaning back. As she fell to the ground, she brought her left foot up to Kuno's chest and pushed him up. The act caught Kuno off guard as he lost the grip on his bokken and went flying in the air, towards the nearby woods. Akane stood up, smiling at her handy work and looked in the direction that Kuno was flying and realized that she had tossed him towards Steve and Ranma, so she started running towards them, with the bokken in her hand.

At that precise time, Steve had managed to pull back Ranma to the branch. Both of them were happy that they were about to change back into their male forms, when all of the sudden, Kuno's head was implanted into the side of the kettle. With Kuno hitting the kettle, the contents were forced out. It was then that Kuno turned somewhat and saw who was near him.

"You're that girl." Kuno announced. Ranma was getting a little nervous about Kuno knowing about her curse. As she was about to say something, Akane arrived and shouted up at Ranma and Steve.

"You guy's are still female." Akane shouted up to them.

"What'd you expect?" Ranma shouted down to her, thinking that Akane should've known what was going on.

"So," Kuno started talking again, totally ignoring the fact that Ranma and Akane were talking. When Kuno started talking again, Ranma faced him. "Did you see where that boy in the pigtail, and his gaijin cohort, went?" Ranma quickly shook her head negatively. "That coward! Running away from a fight. No doubt he feared my prowess. Bah! He is no man, he is no man!"

During Kuno's rant, Ranma's nervousness faded and slowly turned into anger. At the finish of Kuno's ranting, Ranma released the kettle she was still holding and let Kuno fall. Kuno landed on the ground, head first, and rolled over into a sitting position. He crossed his arms and looked up at Ranma as she landed nearby.

"That hurt you know." Kuno pointed out.

"I'm not gonna hang there and take this." Ranma said, totally ignoring what Kuno had said. She then proceeded to get into a ready stance facing Kuno. "I can take you any time, come on!"

"Heh. Amusing." Kuno stated as he stood back up and took his bokken from Akane. "Well, should you win, I will allow you to go out with me."

Kuno had then proceeded at swing at Ranma, to take her down. When Steve had heard what Kuno had said, she couldn't believe the delusion that Kuno was living in and automatically wanted to set things right.

"Who in their right mind would want to go out with you?" Steve shouted and jumped off the branch and aimed her landing to be on top of Kuno.

The distraction that Steve caused by shouting, caused Kuno to stop attacking Ranma and look up at the source of the person who shouted. Kuno only had a very brief second as Steve landed on him and caused him to fall on the ground. Steve then quickly got off of Kuno and stood back up next to Akane.

Kuno sat back up and was about to reprimand the person who jumped on him. As he turned to face the person and start his spiel about the injustices of what the person did, he stopped before he even began. As he got a better look at the person, he saw it was a young girl of about thirteen years of age, wearing what appeared to be nothing but a black Chinese silk shirt, and holding a pair of pants in each hand.

"Who is this lovely young maiden that bears the resemblance to my fierce tigress, Akane Tendo?" Kuno asked no one in particular. Kuno had failed to notice the panicked looks that Ranma, Steve and Akane had. Suddenly Akane had an idea pop in her head.

"She's my sister, uh ... Talia." Akane blurted out. Ranma, Kuno, and especially Steve, were surprised at what she had said. It was Steve who got her voice back first.

"Uh, yeah, you leave my oneechan alone." Steve, now newly named Talia, said in her best little girl voice.

"Since when did you have a younger sister, Akane?" Kuno asked, somewhat confused.

"Hey, don't forget about me." Ranma shouted because of two things. One being that Kuno wasn't fighting her anymore, and the second being that she saw that Steve and Akane were having trouble covering what Akane had blurted out.

"Oh yes, I am at fault for forgetting such a lovely woman such as you." Kuno said as he turned back to face Ranma. He then proceeded to start swinging at Ranma again. But this time, after the first swing, Ranma seemed to have disappeared from where she was standing. Kuno had his bokken still in his finished swing and was looking for Ranma.

"Up here." Ranma said. Kuno turned and saw that Ranma was standing on his bokken. Ranma took two steps and kicked Kuno in the head. He proceeded to fall to the ground onto his back as Ranma landed on her feet. Ranma then kicked Kuno's bokken into the air and caught it, setting it on her shoulder. "And guess what Kuno? Ranma Saotome's even better'n me!"

Ranma then proceeded to walk over to where Steve and Akane were standing. Once Ranma got there, Steve handed Ranma her pants and all three of them headed out of the woods. They were out of ear shot range, so Kuno didn't hear them say anything about Ranma wanting to go home, and then 'Talia' persuading Ranma to stay until School finished for the day.

As Kuno was lying on the ground, he was thinking about had just happened. He was trying to think about the red-haired girl that he was beginning to think was more skilled than Akane, and then the new Tendo sister that Akane said she had. He figured he had to know more about them.

xxxxx

Later that night, back at the Tendo Dojo, in the dojo, Ranma and his father were sitting crossed legged on their heads, while Steve was practicing some basic kata's. After a few minutes, Genma and Ranma were talking about the first day at school. Ranma replied to the questions as much as he wanted. Then Genma got into the part on how Akane had helped him.

"Ranma, Akane really looked out for both of you in school today, didn't she?" Genma had asked.

"It's not like I had asked her to." Ranma replied.

"You should thank her for her help." Genma said.

"Why?" Ranma asked.

"Come on, Red, let's go thank Akane." Steve said, stopping his kata's and wanting to stop a fight from starting between father and son.

"Do we have to?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, besides, I need to talk to her about this morning with Kuno." Steve replied.

"All right." Ranma said and then stood up.

Both Steve and Ranma left Genma in the dojo and headed towards Akane's room. They were standing outside her bedroom door, and were about to knock, when they heard Akane talking loudly to Nabiki. They both heard Akane, rather loudly, complain about being engaged to Ranma, being her worst nightmare. Ranma, upon hearing that, didn't want to thank her for her help and Steve agreed with him. Since Steve still needed to talk to Akane, he bid Ranma off and knocked on the door. He entered the room when he was told to come in.

When Steve entered the room, he saw Akane sitting at her desk, doing her homework, and Nabiki sitting on the bed, reading a magazine about stretching exercises. They were both looking at him, waiting for him to give the reason why he was there.

"What can I help you with?" Akane asked after a bit.

"Well, since Nabiki is here, this will make it easier for me." Steve said.

"Why is me being here, going to be easier for you?" Nabiki asked.

"The 'Talia' situation." Steve said flatly.

"Oh yes, I was wondering about that myself." Nabiki said. "What brought this about?"

"It's my fault." Akane replied sadly.

"I know that." Nabiki said. "Kuno had said you told him about us having another sister."

"Kuno had seen Stack's other form and said how much Stack and I looked similar." Akane tried to explain.

"Why a sister, not a cousin or just someone that looked similar?" Steve asked Akane.

"I don't know why I said it." Akane admitted. "It was just something that came to mind."

"I don't mind playing the 'Talia' role, but there are several holes in that plan though." Steve replied.

"What are they?" Nabiki asked, thinking about how much the situation that Akane put them in, is going to cost to keep damage control down.

"The big one is making your father believe he has a forth daughter." Steve replied to Nabiki.

"I see where you're getting at." Nabiki said smiling. "Leave everything to me and I'll fill you in on what you need to know."

"Okay." Steve said and then looked at his watch. "I'll talk to you two later, I'm going to call my parents and inform them where I am, so they are not worried about me and don't worry Nabiki, I'm using my phone card."

Steve left Akane's room and headed downstairs. When he reached the bottom, he realized he didn't know where the phone was kept. So he entered the kitchen and asked Kasumi where the phone was. After Kasumi told him where it was, he went over to it and called his family.

"Hey mom, it's me ... I know it's early over there, but this was the only good time I could call you guys ... Where am I? Well you could say I took an unexpected trip to Japan ... I, uh, met some friends and they asked if I wanted to go to Japan with them, and since I really didn't have anything to do, I went with them ... They are very nice people, a little socially inapt, but okay ... I'm staying at the 'Tendo Training Hall' ... Martial Arts ... Hold on, I need to ask while you get paper and a writing utensil." Steve said and then set the phone down. He went and asked Kasumi for the address and phone number, and after Kasumi gave it to him, he then gave his mother that information. "I'm doing fine, mom ... Sure I'll talk to dad ... Hey dad, how's the family doing ... That's good to hear ... I'm in Tokyo right now ... I'll write you guys a letter explaining how I got here ... Uh, Nerima district ... That's right, Uncle Kenji lives near here, you got his phone number? ... Okay, thanks dad, tell everyone Hi for me and tell sis I'll get her a gift from here. Talk to you later, bye."

Steve hung up the phone and smiled. It was nice talking to the family and he looked down at the phone number and decided to call the friend to his family. After a few rings, the phone on the other end picked up.

"Can I speak with Kenji Tsukino, please ... Steve Stachowicz ... Hiya uncle Kenji ... I'm in the area, so I decided to give you a call ... I'm in the Nerima district and I'm staying at the Tendo Dojo. I'm going to be staying here for some time; I don't know how long ... Sounds good to me. Is it okay if I bring a friend along, if he wants to come ... What time would be good to come over? ... Okay, I'll see you then, bye."

Steve got the directions to the Tsukino residence and then hung up the phone. He put the address in his pocket and headed upstairs to retrieve his homework. After he got it, he went downstairs to the living room to finish the homework he got. As he was doing his homework, he had this nagging feeling he was forgetting about something.

xxxxx

JUUBAN DISTRICT, AFTER SCHOOL

Usagi was coming out of detention, for not paying attention in class. The teachers were happy that she wasn't sleeping in class, but she wasn't paying attention either. Some of the teachers could tell that she wasn't daydreaming, but in deep thought about something. In actuality, she was trying to think about the Star Kingdom.

Throughout the school day, she was trying to recall anything she could about that kingdom, but was coming up with nothing. During one of her classes, the teacher got fed up with her not paying attention and sent her to detention. Usagi accepted her fate and went to detention after school. During lunchtime, the other Senshi was asking Usagi what was bothering her, and she only replied that they would find out at the meeting after school.

When Usagi got out of detention, she ran over to Rei's shrine, to hear what Luna had to say about the Star Kingdom. She hoped what Luna said would help her locate the Senshi she was suppose to find. When she got to Rei's shrine, she was surprised to see the Outers, except Pluto, waiting there also.

"What are you guys doing here?" Usagi asked surprised.

"Luna had called us, saying we had to be here, that she had something really important to say to everyone." Michiru replied.

"Oh." Usagi said.

"It's about time you got here." Rei said angrily.

"Hey, I can't help it I had detention." Usagi replied back to Rei.

"Probably sleeping again." Rei said.

"I wasn't sleeping." Usagi said, with tears starting to form.

"Then you were daydreaming again." Rei continued to argue with Usagi.

"I wasn't daydreaming, but I did have something on my mind." Usagi replied.

"What? What you would do when Mamoru returns?" Rei taunted.

"No, it's about what Luna has to say," Usagi said then looked down at Luna. "Okay Luna, everyone's here, now tell us what is so bad about this Star Kingdom. The way you were talking last night, you made it sound like they were as bad as Beryl and the Negaverse."

"Better yet, tell us who the Star Kingdom is." Rei interjected. "This is the first any of us even heard of it." The other Senshi nodded in agreement with looks of interest.

"The Star Kingdom consisted of the royal families of the Sun, major Asteroids, and other Celestial bodies." Luna began. "They were very similar to the Moon Kingdom in many aspects, but there were two major differences. Firstly the Star Kingdom rulers were all male, and it was a common belief among them that women were incapable of understanding. That was why they weren't part of the Moon Kingdom from the beginning. Second was a more philosophical differences."

"I can't wait to hear this," Makoto groaned. "As if thinking women were too stupid to understand things weren't bad enough."

"What was this philosophical difference, Luna?" Hotaru asked, interested.

"They felt that using the energy of Planets, or Manna, to provide Senshi with their abilities, replied too much on outside sources for strength." Luna replied, her own opinion of this obvious. "They were warriors by nature and felt that anyone's spirit could be developed enough to provide the necessary power for a Senshi. That, as well as their distrust of female leaders, is what was the foundation for our differences, but because of several incidents, the relations between the Kingdoms degraded until there was little communication between them."

"So were they right about people's spirits being able to supply enough power for a Senshi?" Makoto asked, interested by the idea.

"They claimed to have done it, but refused to allow observers from the Moon Kingdom to investigate." Luna said, her tone showing her doubts about those claims. "Then the Moon Kingdom was attacked by the Negaverse, and the Star Kingdom ignored our distress calls. So I wouldn't be too surprised if they were behind this new threat. They probably made an agreement with Beryl not to interfere when the Negaverse invaded in the first place."

"How can you say that, Luna?" Usagi asked in shock, remembering that her mother had said they needed the Star Kingdom as allies. "What are these incidents you are talking about?"

"One of the big ones was about ten years before you were born." Luna began. "The Star Kingdom restricted access to the shipping routes through the Asteroid Belt. They claimed it was to protect their mineral rights, but your grandmother felt it was more out of spite than concern over their rights. The loss of an ore carrier that went off course, traveling through the belt, damaged relations pretty badly when strange blast damage was found on the wreckage. The Star Kingdom claimed it was an accident, but your grandmother refused to accept it."

"What else?" Usagi asked, her assurances slipping away.

"When Hotaru was chosen as Sailor Saturn, her sister, Saria, left the Moon Kingdom due to a disagreement. The official statement of why she left was that she went to the Star Kingdom to train." Luna replied. "When the Queen of Saturn petitioned the King of the Aeriss Asteroid, for the return of her daughter, he denied that any such person had entered his kingdom."

"He lied, even though everyone knew Saria had gone there?" Rei asked in surprise. "That doesn't make sense."

"A lot of what the Star Kingdom did doesn't make sense." Luna said scornfully.

"What did Saria look like?" Hotaru asked curiously.

"She looked exactly like you, Hotaru." Luna replied. "Because she was your older twin sister, who held the mantle of Sailor Titan."

"A twin sister?" Hotaru replied while showing a face of confusion and then excitement. "I have a twin sister."

"She may not be your twin in this life, but she may look like you." Michiru tried to reason to Hotaru, but Hotaru still showed excitement.

"What was another problem?" Makoto asked really interested in this look at their past. "You said there were several of them."

"Three girls from the Star Kingdom were caught in one of the royal garden outposts on Earth, talking to Endymion." Luna replied, glancing at Usagi. "This was shortly before Beryl's attack, but rumors were already circulating that the Star Kingdom had made an alliance with the Negaverse. The royal guards watched them for several minutes, trying but failing to hear their conversation. When the three girls were leaving, the guards chased them into one of the restricted high magic areas, resulting from a mage war before the Moon Kingdom formed.

"No one really knows what happened, but all three girls drowned in the pools there. A short time later, the sentries placed there as a protection for the ordinary citizens, found that it was Princess Saria and one other princess from the Star Kingdom, floating in a pool. The Queen of Saturn accused King Appollyon of Killing her daughter in cold-blooded revenge, which he of course denied. Two days later, Queen Beryl attacked. When Appollyon didn't answer our calls for help, the Royal Council came to the conclusion that the rumors of an alliance were true and focused all our energies on defeating the Negaverse. You know what happened after that."

"The Royal council of the Moon Kingdom always did have a tendency to jump to conclusions." A male voice said from the far end of the room. A small shadowy form detached itself from the trees and walked into view, revealing itself as a flame orange fox. "Beryl wasn't the type to leave anyone around to contest her rule."

"Who ..." Minako began, then Artemis interrupted her.

"What do you want, Helios?" Artemis demanded with a growl. "You're not welcome here."

"Tsk, tsk, Artemis. I would have expected better from you." Helios said with a laugh. "I only came to tell you two things. First, that the threat you're facing is worse than you realize. It was the main reason the two Kingdoms formed. Second, King Appollyon never betrayed his wife, no matter how bad it looked." The fox ran off at this point, laughing, vanishing into the shadows. The Senshi stared after him for several minutes.

"Who was that and what did he mean by that, Luna?" Usagi asked, turning toward the cat.

"His name is Helios, and you would be best to know of his as the Star Kingdom's version of me and Artemis." Luna replied and inwardly chuckled at the expressions the Senshi had on their faces. "What he meant, was Queen Serenity, your grandmother, sent your mother to the capitol of the Star Kingdom, shortly after the incident with the ore transport.

"The treaty that was finally agreed upon had several strange additions to it, but one of the conditions was that your mother had to marry Appollyon. Helios was the Ambassador that presented the treaty to the Royal council."

"What did he mean about the council jumping to conclusions?" Ami asked curiously. Luna looked over at Artemis uncomfortably, and the Senshi were surprised when he laughed.

"What he meant was that when he presented the treaty, Luna and several other councilors accused Appollyon of holding your mother against her will." Artemis said, while Luna cringed at the memory. "What actually happened is that your mother fell in love with Appollyon, and knowing her mothers prejudices against the Star Kingdom, made their marriage a requirement of the treaty. When the truth came out, four councilors resigned in shame and the treaty was immediately approved."

"So who was the other person who drowned?" Usagi asked in shock when she heard how her mother got married, and then remembering something that Luna said before. "Didn't my mother have that investigated?"

"Absolutely." Luna replied. "Unfortunately, the guards who chased them into the valley were killed in an avalanche as they were coming out of the valley. No one saw what actually happened, they only found the girls floating in the pools. It was obvious that they were murdered, but we never found out who did it."

"Who was the third girl, Luna?" Usagi asked somewhat angrily at Luna, whom she thought was avoiding the question. Luna looked at Usagi and sighed.

"The girls name was Solona, your twin sister." Luna replied.

"I had a twin sister?" Usagi asked in total shock and surprise.

"Yes you did." Luna replied, knowing what was going on with Usagi. "After your parents married, they had agreed to let your mother run the Moon Kingdom, and your father the Star Kingdom. Both of them wanted a heir for their respective Kingdom, so the Queen had used the crystal to make sure she had twins, but when you two were born, both of you were girls. That saddened your father, but he still loved both of you dearly. It was because of your mother that your father had created the first female Senshi in the Star Kingdom. But an occurrence that happened, drove a wedge between your mother and father."

"What happened?" Usagi asked quietly.

"There was an argument, shortly after you two were born, about who and how the Gates of Time and the Guardian should behave and conduct. Appollyon said there should be two guardians, not one. The power of the Gates was too powerful for just one to handle. Your mother believed that one would be sufficient."

"What happened after the argument?" Ami asked.

"King Appollyon grabbed one of his children and went to his palace in the Star Kingdom. When Serenity tried to contact Appollyon, he would refuse to talk to her or let anyone from the Moon Kingdom into his Kingdom. It was several years after that, that Beryl rose and you guys know what happened then." The Senshi sat silently after Luna finished talking, saddened by what happened to the three girls, one thousand years ago.

xxxxx

"Those cats can be incredibly rude some times." Helios said to his companions. "What is the status on locating the Senshi and Haiyashi?"

"I've located Haiyashi three or four times, but that random disappearances of his, keeps screwing me up. One second I'm right behind him and the next, he's gone." Achilles grumbled, his black fur bristling in agitation.

"What about Saria?" Helios asked another fox, this one bluish-black.

"She's in Nerima." Polyarch said with her teeth set in a grimace. "Are we sure we want to wake her up? That guy, Steve, may not be ready to handle Saria's presence in his mind."

"Actually I think she'll help him make the adjustment to his curse faster." Myria, a red haired fox with strange neon green marks on her tail, said seriously. "He's doing okay, but I think he's going to get a nasty surprise when Saria's period forces him to stay in female form for three days."

"What do you mean?" Helios asked in confusion. "I thought only water could change them?"

"With Haiyashi and his human form that's true." Polyarch explained. "But the guys who change to girls have an added 'bonus' curse if you will. When their female bodies would be having their period, if they get changed or they are in their female form at the time, they will be locked if their female form until it passes. I just hope none of them get raped and get pregnant. If that happens, they're stuck until the baby's born."

"Couldn't they abort?" Achilles asked, then jumped backwards when Myria turned on him with a growl.

"Don't even think it Achilles." She barked angrily. "The instant any of them do something like that, their power will be gone forever, because of the spiritual damage. Now they are unlikely to get pregnant, but if they do, they must carry the child to term. Anything else would ruin all hope for defeating our enemy."

"Now we have to contact our wards soon, because we have to activate their powers soon." Helios said as Achilles apologized. "Mine SHOULD be easy, since Solona has grown up with her twin sister. Solaris could be a problem though, since that idiot father of her host has pushed him so much and programmed him to think girls are weak and stupid. Do you think you can deal with it Myria?"

"I could use help from you and Solaris." She replied cautiously. "If we can show Ranma the advantages of his female side, Solaris can do the rest."

"Now, Luna and Artemis still have a grunge against us, so don't be too surprised if the Moon Kingdom Senshi are resistant at first." Helios said to the others. "I made contact with Central though and somehow Serenity is now part of the system. When I explained to her what was coming, she agreed to talk to her daughter. Until we can get the others to trust us, she's our only point of contact."

"How are Sirius and Orion doing with finding the others?" Polyarch asked. "If the Dark One really is waking up, we'll need all seven of the Senshi awake and ready."

"Tirlia is on her way to Nerima." Helios replied. "Orion says she's as ready as she will ever be, but I have to wake her up. So Orion will bring her to me as soon as she thinks she can do it safely. Sirius is still trying to find her ward, but says she has a few leads on where to find her."

"All right." Polyarch said with a sigh. "Has anyone found Draconia? If we can, that will shift the balance in our favor."

"The only one I've seen who fits the genetic profile of Draconia is that girl, Akane." Myria replied. "She has the looks, the temper, and the sheer brute strength, but it's Haiyashi that will be able to recognize her. He is the only one that could."

"Okay everyone, remember, we have to get these Senshi ready for full activation." Helios said, looking at each of the guardians. "Normally they would have been preparing for their entire lives, but that wasn't possible. Do everything you can to help with the transition." The foxes all nodded, then headed off in separate directions.

"I just hope they'll be ready in time." Helios said to himself as he went to put his part of the plan into action.

xxxxx

Usagi was walking home with Luna and Chibi-Usa in silence. After what Luna had told everyone, she was surprised at what was in store for her. From what she remembered, from what her mother told her, and what Luna had hinted at the night before, she thought she was ready for what Luna was going to tell them. She just wasn't ready for what Luna really told them.

"I had a twin sister." Usagi mumbled out loud.

Luna and Chibi-Usa could tell that Usagi was going in shock, after finding out about her twin sister, and what had happened to her. Chibi-Usa thought Hotaru would go into shock upon finding out she had a twin sister, but Hotaru was very happy to know that maybe her twin was out there somewhere. Chibi-Usa decided to keep an eye on her 'mother' until she knew her 'mother' was okay. The rest of the trip was made in silence.

Once they made it back home, Luna and Chibi-Usa ran off to other parts of the house. As Usagi was walking down the hallway, the phone started ringing. Since she was the closest to the phone, she answered it.

"Moshi moshi ... May I ask who's calling? ... Okay, please hold on." Usagi said as she set the phone down, she then went looking for her father. She found him sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. "Dad, there is a person by the name of Steve Stachowicz on the phone for you."

"It is?" He asked in surprise. "Thank you."

He set the newspaper down while Usagi headed upstairs to her room. He got up and went to the phone.

"Steve? ... Hello Steve, what are you calling for? ... Where are you and how long are you in the area? ... That is good to hear. I would like to hear why you're here. How about coming and visit tomorrow evening? ... Sure, if he wants to come, it's all right ... Any time after dinner sounds good ... Bye."

After he gave Steve the directions on how to get to his place, he hung up the phone. He smiled because it was good to hear from the son of his friend from the states. That was how his wife saw him when he entered the kitchen.

"You seem in a joyous mood all of a sudden." Ikuko said.

"I got a call from the son of my friend in the states." Kenji replied.

"Really? Isn't he the one that keeps calling you 'uncle' since he was young, and why did he call?"

"Yes, the last time I took a business trip to the states, he was away at college. He called to say hi and that he was in the area."

"Where is he staying?"

"The Tendo Dojo in the Nerima district."

"You should invite him over."

"I already did. Is tomorrow after dinner sound good?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Since Shingo is going to be at a friend's house at that time, I'll see if Usagi can be here."

"Okay, dear."

Usagi was in her room, lying on her bed, just staring up at the ceiling. She was still thinking about what Luna had told them, and what Helios had brought up. Finding out you had a twin sister that you never knew existed, and then finding out that she was murdered, puts a hard feeling in her heart. She was contemplating wither or not to find the Senshi of the Star Kingdom. Her mother had said that the enemy was too strong for the Moon Kingdom Senshi alone to fight, that they needed their help. She didn't know what to do when there came a knocking at the door.

"Come in." Usagi said. The door opened to reveal her father and Luna running inside. "Hello dad. What could I do for you?"

"What are you doing tomorrow night after dinner?" Kenji asked.

"Nothing to important, why?" Usagi asked.

"The son of a friend of mine from the states is going to visit tomorrow and may bring a friend."

"Was that who was on the phone?"

"Yes, I've known his family since he was about four years old. Every time I've taken a business trip to the states, I've stayed at his parents place. He's been calling me 'uncle' for years now, so don't be surprised if he calls you 'cousin'."

"Uh, okay."

"Good night Honey."

"Good night dad."

After her father left, Usagi went back to staring at the ceiling. Luna jumped up on the bed and walked up until she was near Usagi's head and sat down. Luna waited a while for Usagi to start talking, but Usagi remained quiet, staring up at the ceiling. Luna was getting worried and broke the silence.

"Are you all right, Usagi?" Luna asked, worried.

"Was it true on what you said about the Star Kingdom?" Usagi asked back.

"I'm afraid so." Luna replied.

"Was what Helios said true also?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't trust him or his companions."

"I see."

"Are you going to be all right if we have to face the Star Kingdom?"

"I don't know. How would you react if you have to face your twin?" After Usagi asked that, Luna could only remain silent. "I have a lot on my mind right now."

"I understand." Luna said and then jumped off the bed and crawled under it and fell asleep.

xxxxx

It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, birds were singing, and there was a slight breeze in the air. Steve had gotten up early and helped Kasumi make breakfast. Kasumi tried telling Steve that he was a guest, that he didn't need to help out, and Steve told her that he went to school to be a cook and he needed to keep in practice. Kasumi reluctantly agreed and let him help her out, but secretly she was glad that someone was helping her out with the household chores. Steve helped her out until he had to join Ranma and Genma for the morning workout session.

After the workout, Ranma and Steve grabbed a quick bath before joining everyone for breakfast. Everyone thanked Kasumi for the great breakfast, and Kasumi said that Steve helped her in making the meal. Everyone then thanked Steve for him helping Kasumi, but before everyone left the table, Nabiki said that she had some information to put out.

"As everyone knows by now, because of a slip of tongue by Akane," Nabiki started saying, and Akane started to blush when she figured out what her sister was talking about. "Everyone now thinks that Stack's cursed form is our new youngest sister. So to cover that blunder, I created a history and a new identity. Stack's cursed form's name is now Talia Tendo, thanks to Akane. We adopted her and she arrived yesterday. The reason we didn't tell anyone, if someone asks, is that we wanted her to feel at home before anyone started pestering her. And if anyone asks about her education, we are home tutoring her. Here you go Stack, read this so you can know what you should when you are 'Talia'."

Nabiki passes a folder over to Steve and he quickly pages through it before he nods at her. Then Steve, Ranma, Nabiki, and Akane leave for school.

xxxxx

It was in the middle of the second class that Kuno had came up to Nabiki and asked her if she knew about the girl he had met yesterday.

"Sure I know her." Nabiki replied. "The girl with the pigtail and Chinese clothes."

"Nabiki Tendo, can this be true?" Kuno exclaimed.

After Nabiki nodded her head, Kuno quickly went to his desk and quickly started writing a note. While he was writing the note, he was smiling insanely.

"If she thinks she can defeat Upperclassman Kuno and simply walk away, she thinks wrongly." Kuno though while he was writing the note. After he was done, he handed the note to Nabiki. "Here."

After everyone returned home after school, while they were waiting for Kasumi and Steve to finish up dinner, Nabiki handed Ranma the note that Kuno had written. When Ranma took the note, he saw it was addressed 'To the Tree-Borne Kettle-Girl'.

"This is to me?" Ranma asked confused.

"'To the girl side,' he said." Nabiki replied. "I don't think he believes you're the same person."

"'On Sunday in the tenth hour, meet me in the second field of Furinkan High School.'" Ranma read.

"Sounds like a duel, huh?" Akane said as she heard what Ranma had read.

"Little Kuno just hates to lose." Nabiki said.

"Vengeful, hm?" Akane said.

"Oh, I don't think it will be much trouble." Ranma said, then Kasumi came out and called everyone to dinner.

xxxxx

JUUBAN WARD

It was after school hours in the Juuban Ward. All the Inner Senshi, with Chibi-Usa, is at Rei's place doing their homework. It was a rare occasion because Usagi didn't get any detention, even though she had kept thinking about her 'cousin' that her father said she now had. She kept thinking what her 'cousin' would be like; she knew from her father that he was older. It was then that the others got her attention.

"Hey, Usagi, quit day dreaming, we have homework to do." Makoto said.

"I'm sorry, it's just that my father said that I have a 'cousin' coming over to visit tonight that I didn't know I had." Usagi replied.

"Cousin?" Everyone else exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, he's not really my cousin by blood, it's just that he's been calling my father 'uncle' for his entire life." Usagi said.

"What does he look like?" Minako asked.

"Is he cute?" Makoto asked.

"I don't know I've never met him before." Usagi replied. "But what I got from my father, he's older than us."

"Why is he visiting you?" Ami asked.

"He isn't visiting me, he's visiting my family." Usagi replied. "He's in the area and wanted to say hi while he was here."

"When is he coming over?" Rei asked.

"After dinner, so me and Chibi-Usa have to leave shortly." Usagi said. So they continued to study and do homework until Usagi and Chibi-Usa had to leave.

xxxxx

While Usagi was getting out of her school uniform and dressed in her normal clothes, she was talking to Luna about meeting her cousin. She remembers his family always sending Christmas cards every year, and ever so often, getting a present from them. Luna couldn't help her much, but told her to act normally and be nice. When Usagi was done getting dressed, her mother called her down for dinner. After dinner, the Tsukino's were waiting patiently for Steve to arrive.

About fifteen minutes after they finished cleaning up after dinner, the doorbell rang. Mr. Tsukino got up and answered the door. On the other side were two people, one person he recognized as the son of his friend from America, and the other was a Japanese boy. The one he knew was dressed in a black, silk, Chinese shirt and pants, the Japanese boy was wearing a red shirt version of what Steve was wearing. He smiled and let them in.

"Hello, uncle Kenji." Steve said.

"Hello Steve, who's your friend?" Kenji asked.

"This is Ranma Saotome." Steve replied. "He's one of my sensei's in martial arts."

"That's nice to hear." Kenji said and then turned to face Ranma. "How do you do young man?"

"I'm fine sir." Ranma said bowing slightly.

"That's good, please come in." Kenji said, moving over slightly so Steve and Ranma could enter the house.

"Thank you." Steve said.

"Meow."

Kenji noticed that Steve and Ranma had suddenly froze in their tracks. He saw that Steve had a look on his face that looked like he suddenly remembered something that was very important, while Ranma had a look that he had just heard his greatest fear.

"Meow."

He saw as both Steve and Ranma look down and he looked down also and saw Luna and Diana sitting there looking up at Steve and Ranma. He then heard Ranma scream 'cats!' and he looked up and saw Ranma running out of the house like there was a fire behind him. He looked back at Steve and saw him shaking his head.

"What just happened?" Kenji asked confused.

"I forgot to ask if you guys had any cats. Ranma is afraid of cats, so if you can, please hide the cats for a bit." Steve replied.

"Okay." Kenji said.

So Steve then goes out to retrieve Ranma, who had knocked himself out cold by running into the brick wall fence line. At the same time, Mr. Tsukino is making Usagi and Chibi-Usa take their cats up to their bedrooms. Steve came back in with a groggy Ranma. Mr. Tsukino shows them to the living room. Steve and Ranma sat down on the couch, next to each other, as Mr. Tsukino sat in an easy chair to the right of Steve. Shingo sat on the floor near to the TV, and Mrs. Tsukino came in with snacks and drinks.

"Hello, Aunt Ikuko." Steve said as she passed the snacks to him.

"Hello Steven, how are you?" Ikuko replied.

"I'm doing fine." Steve said.

"We'll get going once my daughter and niece come back down." Kenji said.

"Okay." Steve said as they waited a couple of moments before Usagi and Chibi-Usa came downstairs and sat near Mr. Tsukino.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get started." Kenji said. "This is Steve Stachowicz, the son of my friend in America. I've known him since he was about five years old."

"How do you do." Steve said to the other members of the Tsukino family. There was a round of hellos from the other Tsukino family members.

"Since you know my wife, Ikuko, this is my daughter Usagi, my niece Usagi also, but we call her Chibi-Usa to tell them apart, and this is my son, Shingo." Kenji introduced to Steve and Ranma. Both of them said a greeting to them.

"This is my friend, Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome school of Anything-goes martial arts, and my current Sensei." Steve started saying.

"You've taken up martial arts? Last I heard, you were hiking around America for a bit." Ikuko said somewhat confused.

"Yes I was." Steve replied. "It was something to do when I met my first Sensei in America."

So Steve started talking about everyday things, explain what has been going on lately, telling how the family has been doing lately, how he met Ranma, but leaving out Jusenkyo. It was then that Usagi asked the question that has been on her mind.

"Why are you afraid of cats?" Usagi asked Ranma. Ranma glanced at Steve in a panic. Steve looked back with a look saying if he should be the one to answer. Ranma just took a deep breath and let it out.

"It was a martial arts technique that my pop came across that was suppose to make the trainee invincible, by making them have the fierousisty of a cat." Ranma said.

"What is it called?" Ikuko asked.

"Neko-ken." Ranma said.

"How did the training go?" Kenji asked.

"The trainee is tied in fish sausage and thrown into a pit of hungry cats." Ranma said.

"What!" All the Tsukino's exclaimed.

"What would your father do something like that?" Ikuko asked.

"My pop would stop at nothing to train me in martial arts." Ranma said.

"Luckily it only happened once." Usagi said.

"Who said it was only one time?" Steve asked Usagi as he looked at her.

"What!" Exclaimed all the Tsukino's in shock.

"Pop kept trying different fish products until it proved some results." Ranma said.

"How could your father do something like that?" Ikuko said shocked.

"The idiot failed to read the entire book that talked about the Neko-ken." Steve said.

"Did you learn the Neko-ken?" Chibi-Usa asked.

"Oh yes, but at the cost of my sanity." Ranma replied.

"What do you mean?" Kenji asked. "You look very sane to me."

"Red here can only do the Neko-ken when his fear of cats peak and he becomes a cat himself." Steve said.

"Becomes a cat?" Ikuko asked confused.

"I mean acts like one." Steve corrected himself.

"Oh." Ikuko said understanding more what Steve had said.

They got off that topic because they noticed that Ranma was getting uncomfortable talking about it. So they talked about future plans that Steve and Ranma had. Everyone failed to notice that Luna and Diana were listening in on the top of the stairs. Both of them felt sorry on what happened to Ranma and understood what he did.

Steve explained that he was just planning to explore the area some more, while he learned more martial arts, before he had to go back to find a job in the culinary arts area. Ranma explained on how he was going to be a martial arts sensei when he was able to. The Tsukino's gasped when they found out he was all ready engaged. Ranma grumbled that it was his father's fault that he was engaged.

After a while, Steve realized it was getting late and that he and Ranma had to be getting back. The Tsukino's said their good-byes and Steve and Ranma left. Before they left, Mrs. Tsukino asked if they wanted to come over again on Sunday. Ranma had declined because of a challenge he had, and Steve said that he had nothing going on and would be glad to come over. They set a time and then Steve and Ranma left.

After Steve and Ranma left, Usagi and Chibi-Usa went up to Usagi's room. There they met Luna and Diana waiting for them.

"I can't believe that Ranma's father would do that to him." Chibi-Usa said.

"I know I feel sorry for him." Usagi said and then noticed Luna and Diana. "Sorry about putting you two up here."

"Don't worry, we heard the reason why." Luna said.

"His father is inhuman to do that." Diana said.

"I wish we could help him." Chibi-Usa said sadly.

"Well, I sensed something strange about those two, something weird." Luna said.

"Not this again." Usagi started complaining. "You kept saying that when I met the other Senshi."

"I know, but there is something about those two that I sensed." Luna replied.

"Well I'm tired and we can talk about this later, good night." Usagi said and went to her bedroom to get ready for bed, leaving the others standing there.

xxxxx

As Steve and Ranma were walking down the street, Steve was apologizing for not checking to see if the Tsukino's had any cats. Ranma told him not to worry about it, that he couldn't remember to do everything. They continued towards the train station and talked about the Tsukino's.

Most of their talk was Steve saying how he knew of the Tsukino's, the reasons why he calls Mr. Tsukino 'uncle', and similar topics. Then their talks went on about the girls, Usagi and Chibi-Usa. The discussion went to the girl's unusual hairstyle, to their looks; to the way their eye's looked. Steve even noticed that in their eyes seem to hold a portion of long experience of life in their innocanse look. It was then that they walked in front of a yard and a sprinkler system came on and hit Steve and Ranma with cold water, changing them into their other form.

"Man, I hate this." Ranma complained.

"Just be glad that it happened now and not back at the Tsukino's place." Steve said.

"I guess you're right." Ranma said grumbling.

"Let's get back." Steve said.

"Okay." Ranma said.

After wringing out as much water as they could, they continued on. As they rounded the corner, Steve collided with another person. As they stood back up, Ranma and Steve noticed that the person that Steve walked into was a woman in mid-thirties, wearing a blue kimono, had auburn hair done in a bun, and had a long item wrapped up in cloth.

"I'm sorry ma'am." Steve apologized.

"That's all right dear." The woman said. "You should be more careful next time."

"I will Ma'am." Steve said.

Steve and Ranma continue on and failed to notice the strange look the woman was giving Ranma.

xxxxx

SUNDAY AT FURINKIN

Ranma was standing on the appointed field at the appointed time. She was getting bored waiting for Kuno to show up. As the School bell chimed the appointed hour, Ranma was about to complain that Kuno was late when she noticed a figure approaching in the distance. When the person came in better view, Ranma saw that it was Kuno in his usual garb. Kuno walked up to stand a short distance away from Ranma.

"So you have come, my Tree-borne-kettle-girl." Kuno said after a while of looking at each other.

"You don't learn quick, do you, pal?" Ranma asked. They stood staring at each other for another several minutes. "Well, where's your sword?"

"Heh, I have no need for a sword." Kuno said confidently.

"Yeah? Pretty confident, I guess." Ranma said.

"Confident enough you give you THIS!" Kuno shouted as he reached behind himself and threw an item at Ranma.

Ranma reacted and caught the item with her right hand, as it was about to fly over her head. Ranma wondered what Kuno was doing when she noticed red flower petals start falling in front of her face. She looked up at the item in her hand and found out that she had caught a bouget of roses. She then looked at Kuno in surprise and saw him walking away. He then stopped and faced her.

"I love you." Kuno said and continued walking away. Ranma was shocked at what happened and just fell to her knees in shock as she watched Kuno walk away.

xxxxx

SUNDAY WITH STEVE

After a late breakfast, Steve had left to go visit the Tsukino's. He got there a little bit before ten in the morning. He got dressed in a white, short sleeve, Chinese silk shirt, with yellow ties and black pants. When he got there, he wondered what he was going to do. After he entered, they talked for a bit about what's been going on lately for the past few day's and how is the challenge Ranma has. Since the time was at ten, he didn't know.

After they stopped talking, Usagi wanted to show Steve to her friends, since Chibi-Usa was over at Hotaru's. Mr. And Mrs. Tsukino said it was up to Steve if he wanted to go. Usagi quickly ran to Steve and quickly asked him about meeting her friends. Because she asked so fast, he couldn't understand a single word. He looked at her blankly for a moment and then placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Take a deep breath and ask me again slowly." Steve said calmly. Usagi did what he asked her and asked her question again.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out and meet my friends for a while, if you want to." Usagi asked.

"I would like to." Steve replied.

"Yeah!" Usagi exclaimed and jumps up in excitement.

She forgot that Steve was still holding her shoulders and lost her balance coming down. She came crashing into Steve, causing him to lose his balance and making them fall to the floor. Usagi looked up at Steve embarrassed.

"I always wanted a pretty girl falling for me." Steve said smiling, causing Usagi to blush even more than what she all ready was. "Don't worry about it."

Usagi stood up with Steve's help and went upstairs to change clothes. When she came back down, all that Steve noticed of what she changed from her with shorts and a white t-shirt was added a pink sweater and white tennis shoes. Usagi told her mother that she was going out to meet her friends and was taking Steve with her. Her mother told her to be back by dinner and not make it too hard for him.

Usagi said she would and grabbed Steve's arm as she was leaving and dragged him with her. After they got several blocks from her house, Steve broke free from her grip and told her he can follow her just fine. She apologized and continued walking towards the arcade. As they made their way to the arcade, Steve asked Usagi to tell him more about her friends that he was going to meet. Steve then noticed a chain linked fence approaching.

Usagi started explaining that some of her friends won't be there, but there will be four there. One is named Ami, and she is the smartest of them all. Next is Rei, and she is a Shinto priestess at a nearby Shrine. Next is Makoto, saying that she is a good cook. Finally Minako, and she is very athletic. Usagi described them as best as she could, and felt like she could describe them better.

"Don't worry about it, I'll make my judgment when I meet them." Steve said.

Usagi smiled and turned her head to face Steve, only to find him not behind her. She became concerned and stopped and started looking around for him.

"Up here." Usagi heard Steve's voice above her.

Usagi looked up and didn't believe her eyes, she saw Steve walking on top of the fence. Steve knew what her question was going to be and explained to her the method of training for balance. He then decided to change the topic before something happened.

"Last one to the arcade pays the first round of games." Steve announced and started running down the fence.

"Hey, no fair." Usagi shouted out.

Usagi started after Steve when he started running down the fence. Usagi caught up to him and past him when he ran out of fence and had to jump down to the road. Steve was only several steps behind Usagi when she reached the arcade. Usagi saw that she won and started jumping for joy. Steve came up to her and handed her a 1000-yen to spend there. Usagi quickly took the money, thanked him, and ran inside.

Steve shook his head at Usagi's obvious enjoyment and followed her in. When he entered, he looked around and found her over by a 'Sailor V' arcade. He smiled and walked over to the token machine and got some tokens. He looked around to see what game he wanted to play and noticed the crane game. Inside he saw a white with pink highlights, two foot in length, plush rabbit. He smiled at it as he thought of Usagi liking it, so he tried to get it.

Usagi used up all the yen Steve gave her playing 'Sailor V'. When she lost her last life, she became chest fallen because she didn't get pass the part she wanted to. Then all of a sudden, she felt something touch her left shoulder and turned her head to see what it was. She saw she was face to face with a white and pink fur ball. She jumped back a little in surprise before she saw it was Steve holding a plush rabbit, smiling at her.

"Don't do that, you scared me." Usagi said to Steve.

"I didn't mean to." Steve replied.

"What is the rabbit for?" Usagi asked.

"I won it in the crane game and decided to give it to you." Steve replied.

"For me?" Usagi asked surprised.

"From what I know of Japanese, your first name means 'rabbit', so when I got this, I thought of you. So here." Steve said as he hands the rabbit over.

"Uh, thank you." Usagi said somewhat confused.

"Isn't it time to meet your friends?" Steve asked.

"Oh yes, come on, lets go." Usagi said after looking at her watch and then drags Steve out by the arm.

After a couple minutes of being dragged by the arm, Steve and Usagi came up to a food court of the strip mall they were at. They came up to a food place that had outside sitting. Once they got there, Usagi looked around real quick and then started dragging Steve to a table that had four girls sitting there. One had long black hair, red t-shirt, red skirt. One had long blond hair with a red ribbon, yellow shirt, white shorts. One with brown hair, done up in a ponytail, green sleeveless shirt, blue shorts. Last had short bluish black hair, blue blouse, blue shorts, and was reading a book. The long blacked haired one noticed them first and glanced at her watch.

"Well, what do you know, she made it on time." The long black haired one said.

"Cut it out, Rei." Usagi grumbled.

"Who's that with you, Usagi?" The long blond haired one with a red ribbon asked.

"Remember I told you about my cousin visiting?" Usagi asked the group and saw them all nod their heads in remembrance. "Well, this is him."

"Am I missing something here?" Steve asked confused.

"Nothing much. Just I was telling them I had to meet you the day you came over instead of staying in our study group." Usagi explained.

"Oh okay." Steve accepted her explanation. "So who are your friends?"

"Oh yeah. Well, over to our left is Rei Hino, next to her is Makoto Kino, the one with her face in the book is Ami Mizuno, last is Minako Aino." Usagi introduced them. Everyone replies back with a greeting. "Everyone, this is my unofficial cousin, Steve Stack ... uh, Stach ... uh ..."

"Stachowicz." Steve helped Usagi out.

"You're American, aren't you?" Minako asked in English, causing a few of her friends to look at her in confusion.

"Yes I am." Steve replied, picking up a British accent in her question and replied back in English. "You speak British English very well."

"I did grow up there for several years." Minako said.

"I see." Steve said.

"Good, I now have someone I can keep up with on my English." Minako said.

"I'll be glad to help out, but I think we better go back to Japanese. We are getting confused looks from most of everyone here." Steve said.

"Okay." Minako said when she did see the looks her friends were giving them.

"What was that about?" Usagi asked.

"Mina here was happy that someone was around to help her with her English." Steve said as he messed Minako's hair. Minako knocked his hand away and scowled at him, but smiled a little bit later.

They had then ordered their lunch and had some small talk, mostly centered on Steve about his life and what he has been doing lately. When he informed them that he was 24 and had graduated college all ready, that most of them exclaimed how young he looked. He explained how he accidentally came across a place in China that helped, but he couldn't remember exactly where it was. He explained what he did after college and how he ended up in Japan, but making it more believable and leaving out Jusenkyo, to the point where he met Usagi for the first time. At about that time, they were done eating their lunch.

Steve excused himself and went to the restroom. As Steve was in the restroom, the girls suddenly heard several screams of terror nearby. They quickly got up and went to explore what was going on. When they got to the area, they saw two creatures that looked like a cross between a bat and an ape, basically an ape body with a bat like head. The both of them were basically walking through the mall just destroying anything in their way and tossing people that were unfortunate enough to be within their reach. They quickly ran into an alleyway and transformed.

Steve had left the restroom; several people running in a panic away from nearby greeted him. He got to the table where he was having lunch, and found that all the girls were gone. He noticed that Usagi left her plush rabbit on the table. So he went over and grabbed it and started wondering where Usagi could have ran to until he heard a commotion farther down the mall. Being cautious, he made his way over there to see what was going on. When he got within sight of what was going on, he stared wide-eyed at what he saw.

He saw ape-like creatures with mutated bat-like heads, fighting five girls in what Steve thought were cheerleader outfits. He just watched on as the girls fought the creatures with minor difficulty. The creatures seemed to be shrugging off all the strange attacks the girls were doing. Some of the girls were taking some bad hits by the creatures. The girls were about to lose when four more girls showed up. When they did, the girls quickly took out the two monsters. Steve was surprised at what he saw, and he had a nagging feeling about the girl in purple with the glaive.

As the girls were catching their breath, Steve was wondering what happened to Usagi. He took one last look before he decided to look for Usagi. As he looked at the group of girls, he noticed that the one in blue had noticed him and went over to the person that Steve figured was the leader. He watched as the one in blue talk to the leader, the leader quickly turned her head in his direction and had a wide-eyed expression, and then the leader turned to the other girls and said something and then all of the girls started running away. Steve figured he wasn't supposed to see them and then started to look for Usagi.

He made his way back to the restaurant and started calling out Usagi's name as he started looking for her. After calling her name for several minutes, he finally came across her. He found her hiding in an alleyway, breathing hard, and looking very tired.

"Usagi!" Steve shouted as he ran over to her.

"Steve." Usagi said and hugs Steve tightly like she was very afraid.

"Are you all right?" Steve asked.

"I was so scared." Usagi said shakily.

"Don't worry, those things are gone." Steve said assureaningly. Then placed Usagi's arm around his neck and he placed an arm around her waist. "You look tired, rest upon me."

"Okay." Usagi complied.

"Where are your friends?" Steve asked her as they started heading back to her place.

"Ahh, they continued running while I fell behind." Usagi nervously explained.

"That's all right, at least you're all right." Steve said.

"Yeah." Usagi replied.

"I just wonder what those things were and who those cheerleaders were that were fighting them." Steve wondered.

"I don't know what those things were, but I know those 'cheerleaders', as you call them, are called the Sailor Senshi." Usagi said, minerly upset that Steve called the Senshi cheerleaders.

"Sailor Senshi?" Steve asked in confusion. Usagi then started explaining about the history of the Senshi as they walked back to Usagi's house.

After dropping Usagi off at her house, after explaining to her parents what happened at the mall, Steve headed back to the Tendo Dojo. As he was walking down the street, a bunch of kids were running around playing a game. He realized that they had Super Soakers, after they had soaked him. The kids didn't even notice the change, so Steve kept on going.

As Steve walked pass an alleyway, she felt several hands grab her and pulled her into the alleyway. Steve stumbled about and landed on her hands and knees. When she looked up, she noticed four boys around thirteen years old, and they didn't look too happy to see Steve. They slowly approached Steve and she slowly backed away from them.

"What are you doing here freak?" One of the boys said. Steve was wondering how they knew about his curse and probably figured they saw him change forms.

"You're a freak, get out of here freak." Another boy said. Steve tried to get up, but the boys pushed her back down.

"Where do you think you're going, Hotaru." The third boy said. Steve then realized they though she was someone else.

"My name isn't Hotaru, it's ..." Steve tried saying but was cut off.

"Shut up freak." The first boy said as he slapped Steve across the face. "You have no right to go to our school."

"Listen, you have ..." Steve tried explaining again and was cut off again.

"Shut up freak." The first boy said and shoved Steve so Steve landed on her back. Then the other boys went and held her arms down and the first boy noticed something and reaches out and grabs Steve's left breast. Steve broke free from the boys holding her arms and shoved the boy that was holding her breast away from her. She then used her arms to cover her breasts. "Hey guys, she's not wearing a bra."

The guys smiled lustfully and closed in on her. Steve got a serious look to her face as she confronted the boys.

"I don't think so, perverts." Steve said angrily and then proceeded to beat the boys up some. Steve didn't injure them that bad, but they would have bruises in the morning. Steve ran out of the alleyway, leaving the four boys moaning.

Steve quickly made her way back to the Tendo Dojo. After Steve got into the house, she sat on the porch, curled into a ball and caught her breath. It was then that Akane and Ranma came out of the Dojo and saw Steve sitting there. They saw the look of Steve's face and wondered what was wrong.

"Hey Stack, what's up?" Ranma asked, getting Steve's attention.

"Oh, hey Red." Steve said quietly.

"You seem a little down, what's wrong?" Ranma asked.

"Two things actually happened to me, and one of them is a reason I'm a little uncomfortable with this form." Steve replied.

"What happened?" Akane asked.

"Akane, do you know about monster attacks in the Juuban Ward?" Steve asked while Ranma looked at Steve like she was crazy, and then became wide-eyed at Akane's reply.

"Sure. They've been happening on and off for the past two years, why?" Akane wondered.

"There was a monster attack at the mall me and my cousin were at, having lunch with her friends." Steve replied.

"Are you and your cousin all right?" Akane asked in concern.

"Yeah, we're fine. I was in the restroom when the monsters struck. When I came out, I saw the Senshi fighting them." Steve said.

"You saw the Senshi?" Akane asked in amazement.

"Yes, nine of them." Steve said.

"Oh, I wish I could see them." Akane said.

"Who are these Senshi you two are talking about?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"Only the greatest female superhero group around." Akane said.

"I wouldn't know." Steve said. "But my cousin adores them, especially the one called Sailor Moon. But to me at first, they looked like cheerleaders." Akane and Ranma chuckle slightly at that.

"So what is the other thing that happened to you?" Akane asked and then saw Steve got depressed.

"When I was walking back to here, after dropping my cousin back home, I got soaked by kids with Super Soakers. After that, four thirteen year old boys pulled me into an alleyway and started calling me a freak." Steve started saying and Akane and Ranma got wide-eyed. "I was wondering how they knew, thinking they saw me change, but it turns out they mistaken me for someone else. I tried to tell them that they had the wrong person, but they wouldn't let me talk. It was then that they got physical by holding my arms so I couldn't move. Then one of them went and grabbed my breast."

"What!" Ranma was shocked.

"Those perverts." Akane said angrily.

"I know, I broke free of their grip and proceeded to beat them up. I didn't hurt them to bad, but they'll be feeling it in the morning." Steve said.

"Good for you, sis." Akane said and then proceeded to hug Steve affectionately. Steve froze up at the contact and Ranma stared at them in surprise. Akane then realizes what she did and releases Steve. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, onnechan." Steve said, smiling up at Akane, and having her smile back. "So Red, what happened at the challenge?" She then hears Akane chuckle and Ranma grumble for a moment. "What happened?"

"It wasn't really a challenge. It was Kuno expressing his love to his 'Tree-borne-kettle-girl'." Akane said chuckling. Steve looks at Ranma for confirmation and see Ranma nod slightly.

"Man, we both have had crappy afternoons. I'm going to take a bath, I'll see you two later." Steve said getting up and heading to take a bath.

xxxxx

THE NEXT MORNING

Ranma woke up screaming. Once he calmed down and realized what he had was just a nightmare and he started to breath normally. Because he screamed when he woke up, he woke Steve up.

"Hey, Red, you all right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, just had a nightmare." Ranma replied.

"What was it about?"

"Kuno falling in love with my female side." Ranma replied with a shiver when he remembered the dream.. He then felt a hand on his arm and saw that it belonged to Steve.

"I can guess what you're feeling." Steve said with a sincere smile. "But since we're going to be getting up soon, let's go practice before Genma wakes up and you can tell me what happened in your dream."

"Okay." Ranma said and both of them got up and started practicing.

After breakfast, Akane, Ranma, and Steve started running towards school in a hurry. Actually, it was Akane and Ranma running with a purpose and Steve was running hard just to keep up with them. As they entered the school gates, Steve saw the usual mob of boys waiting to fight Akane. As Steve watched, Akane and Ranma just plowed a path right through the mob without even stopping. At the end of the mob stood Kuno. Steve remembered what Ranma told him what the nightmare he had was, and he watched as Ranma suddenly charged Kuno and watched as both Akane and Ranma jump up and kick Kuno in the face. Before Kuno landed on the ground, Akane and Ranma were almost inside the school. Steve had made his way through the path and heard what Akane and Ranma were talking about before they entered the school.

"Hey, don't fight my fights for me!" Akane yelled at Ranma.

"I'm not doing it for you." Ranma said flatly as they entered the school.

xxxxx

During lunch in Nabiki's classroom, Kuno came over to Nabiki and tossed a plush panda on her desk. She was drinking from a juice box when she looked up at him in confusion.

"What's this?" Nabiki asked.

"A present." Kuno said blatantly.

"Not my style." Nabiki said and tossed the panda back to Kuno.

"Did I offer it to you, Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno said and set the panda back on her desk. "This sweet treasure I save for my Goddess in Pigtails." When Kuno said that, it caused Nabiki to spit the drink she had in her mouth into Kuno's face.

"Now look at what you made me do." Nabiki said with a little anger.

"What ... I ... made you do?" Kuno said with the drink dripping off of his face.

Nabiki then reached in her book bag and laid down five pictures for Kuno to look at.

"Set of five for 3000 yen. You want?" Nabiki asked.

"Oh ... she is so ... so ... so ..." The five pictures were of Ranma's female form. One was Ranma sleeping in boxers and a tank top. Another was Ranma sleeping in boxers and her Chinese shirt, with several top buttons undone to show a lot of cleavage. Another was Ranma and Steve accidentally being hosed down by Kasumi. Another was Ranma in tank top and boxers, fanning herself to cool down. And the last one was Ranma taking off her shirt with Mr. Tendo in the back ground spitting out what he had in his mouth. "... Defenseless."

"Kinda like a boy, huh?" Nabiki said smiling and accepts the money that Kuno hands over to her and starts counting it. "You're really something, you know? I mean, dropping Akane just like that."

"Dropping her?" Kuno said like it was of no concern. Both Nabiki and Kuno look at each other.

"You're not going to two-time her?" Nabiki said with a little anger in her voice.

"Hmph. Don't be vulgar." Kuno said thinking of Akane and his 'pigtailed girl'. "Akane, so pure and tidy. The pigtailed girl, bursting with health beauty. Both so dear I can give up neither. Do you call it 'deceit' that I would openly wish them both?"

"No, I call it ..." Nabiki said, slapping down five pictures of Akane in several different workout poses. "... Two timing!" Kuno picks up the pictures and looks at them.

"Set of five for 3000 yen." Nabiki said smiling.

"Such ... such ... ferocity. Sold." Kuno said slapping down the money.

xxxxx

To Be Continued


	3. Part Three

1This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

by

Stacko

Edited by Lord Dragonbane

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Part Three

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Ranma and Steve were waiting outside the back of school for Kuno to show up. Nabiki had came in between class and told Ranma that Kuno wanted to see him after school. Steve went along to keep Ranma company. So they waited patiently as they waited for Kuno to show. In a couple of minutes, they saw Kuno approaching with a panda doll in his hands, dressed in his kendo outfit. When Kuno was close enough, Ranma started talking.

"Well, Kuno, what do you want?" Ranma asked impatiently.

"That will be 'upperclassman' to you." Kuno said and tossed the panda to Ranma, who easily caught it. Ranma looked blankly at it and faces Steve, who indicates he has no idea what's going on. Ranma then faced Kuno with the same confused look. "Tell me why I must give to you?"

"Say again?" Ranma asked still confused.

"Answer me why? 'If you want to give her your panda, give it to Ranma Saotome.' Quoth Nabiki Tendo." Kuno said, and then looked hard at Ranma. "How do you know my Pigtailed Goddess?"

"Forget her, trust me." Ranma said, tossing the panda back when he realized what was going on.

"What?" Kuno asked in confusion.

"You'll probably never even see 'her' again. Come on Stack, let's go." Ranma said. They both turned and left Kuno standing there in confusion. When they turned the corner of the building, both Ranma and Steve were hit with cold water from above.

"Hey, what if somebody was down there?" A person from a third floor window asked.

"Don't worry about it." The other person said, the one with the bucket in his hands.

"Never see her again." Thought Kuno, and then started after Ranma shouting. "What do you mean, Ranma Saotome?" He ran around the corner where Steve and Ranma went and found both of them no where in sight. He looked around but he couldn't find any trace of them then he started to get angry. "So quick to run, are you?"

With that out cry, Kuno used his bokken and sliced through a nearby tree. When the tree landed, both Ranma and Steve tumbled out of the branches. Kuno stared at them as they sat up and adjusted their pants to fit them better.

"You're the new Tendo sister and the ... the girl." Kuno said and both of them just looked at him without saying anything. "How I've missed y..."

Kuno went to Ranma to try and give her a hug, but Kuno's sentence was cut off with a punch to the face when he got near Ranma.

"Back off!" Ranma said, but Kuno didn't seem bothered by the punch and went and grabbed Ranma to his chest in a hug.

"I shall never let you go." Kuno said.

Steve tried to help Ranma by grabbed Kuno's arms and tried to pull his arms away. Steve then heard someone come up behind them and saw Nabiki standing there with a kettle. Steve backed away as Nabiki dumped the contents of the kettle over Ranma. Ranma screamed in pain as the hot water was poured over him.

"Sorry 'bout that. Too hot Ranma?" Nabiki asked, still holding the kettle.

"Ranma?" Kuno said in confusion, causing his grip to loosen enough that Ranma was able to kick Kuno back several steps.

"Okay honey, time to let go." Ranma said as he kicked Kuno back. Ranma stood up and flipped his pigtail off his shoulder. "Do you get it now, idiot? So long." Ranma made his way to where Steve and Nabiki were standing.

"Hold Saotome." Kuno said, causing Ranma to stop and look at him. "Where have you hidden my Goddess? Upperclassman Kuno shall not be fooled by such trickery."

"Listen Kuno ..." Ranma said, not believing that Kuno didn't figure it out. Steve even stared at Kuno in disbelief.

"He just won't get it until we spell it out." Nabiki said after a bit and then went over to Kuno and pulled him off to the side, leaving Steve and Ranma standing where they were. "C'mere Kuno-baby, listen. See, that girl there, her body, her soul, all his. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"I don't think she's helping the matter." Steve whispered to Ranma and she saw that Kuno was taking it the wrong way. "This don't look good, Red."

Kuno then turned around and slashed out at Ranma, not really noticing Steve standing there. The slash caused Ranma to jump up and caused Steve to drop to the ground.

"Tyrant!" Kuno yelled as he slashed at Ranma.

"I don't think you've got it yet." Ranma said from the tree he was hanging onto from.

"Silence! I can see it, wretch." Kuno yelled at Ranma as he thought of male Ranma using his 'Pigtail Goddess' as a sex slave. "How terrible, enslaver of women!"

Kuno slashed through the tree at the area where Ranma had been, because Ranma had jumped out of the way.

"Hey, get a grip." Ranma said as he jumped out of the way. No one noticed that Akane was now behind a nearby statue, watching what was going on, and wondering what was going on to cause Kuno to be trying to kill Ranma.

"I shall fell you." Kuno yelled as he kept striking at Ranma. "I shall free her."

"Oh yeah?" Ranma said, jumping up and grabbed the bokken as a balance and kicked Kuno in the chest. "So then if you lose, you'll forget her, right?"

The kick caused Kuno to stumble backwards several steps. The kick caused several items to come flying out of Kuno's garb. As Ranma landed, several of those items were flying near him, so he went and grabbed one of them. He realized that it was a picture, a picture of his female side taking off her shirt with Mr. Tendo nearby. Ranma was so distracted that Kuno took the opportunity and slashed at Ranma. Ranma was so distracted that Kuno was able to clip Ranma on the right side of his body. Steve, Akane, and Nabiki gasped at the sight.

Ranma used his hand to grab the wound as he stumbled backwards. Kuno thinking he had the advantage started striking at Ranma. Ranma quickly regaining his wits started dodging all the attacks Kuno was throwing. As he was dodging, Ranma started grabbing all the pictures that were fluttering around him. He was glancing at the pictures and saw that they were of Akane and his female side. As Ranma was dodging Kuno's attacks, two pictures landed near Steve's feet. She bent down and took a look at them and saw that one was of Akane working out and the other one had female Ranma and Steve's female side being hosed down by Kasumi.

"You look elsewhere in the midst of battle. You do not take me seriously!" Kuno exclaimed and with that, Kuno thrust his bokken at Ranma in an attempt to impale him.

Ranma easily dodged the thrust that Kuno did and rolled away from Kuno. Ranma kept rolling until he stopped at the statue Akane was by. He stopped rolling until he was at Akane's feet. He looked up to see who he stopped by and saw that it was Akane. Akane just looked down at him.

"I think you should know that when he battles a male opponent, Upperclassman Kuno is very skilled." Akane said.

"And I think you should know that blue panties really don't suit you." Ranma said as he was looking up at her.

Akane quickly used her hands to push her skirt in so Ranma no longer had a good view up her skirt, but then Akane's embarrassment suddenly turned to anger.

"Go back and die!" Akane shouted as she booted Ranma back at Kuno. Ranma was flipping in circles as he approached Kuno. Kuno smiled evilly at Ranma as he approached.

"The game ends." Kuno said smugly. Ranma evened out his flipping and looked at Kuno in confusion. Just when Ranma was about to land, Kuno's bokken suddenly blurred, going back and forth in a thrust attack. "Strike, strike, strike, strike, strike, strike, strike." Kuno said as he was doing his attack.

Ranma in the last second was able to dodge all of the attacks, but his clothes were not as lucky. Small slashes appeared on his shirt and pants. Everyone was watching Ranma easily dodging all the attacks when they started hearing the sound of stone cracking. They noticed that it was the statue that Akane was standing near had cracks appearing all over the place.

"Whoa." Steve said seeing that happening. "Just the air pressure alone."

Suddenly the statue crumbled and since Akane was close to it, she gasped in surprise. Ranma hearing her gasp, turned to her and yelled at her.

"Out of the way, stupid." Ranma shouted.

"I have you!" Kuno said, sensing Ranma was distracted and went for a final attack strike.

"Eyes front idiot." Akane yelled at Ranma, sensing what Kuno was going to do.

Suddenly several things happened so fast, that Steve, Nabiki, and Akane only saw Ranma dodge the bokken attack and looked liked he flipped in mid-air, landing several feet away from Kuno. Kuno straightened up and smiled evilly at Ranma. Then all of a sudden, Kuno took a step towards Ranma and collapsed to the ground. Nabiki and Akane wondered what happened and then went to Kuno's body as they saw Steve kneeling there. Steve then flipped Kuno's body over, so he was lying on his back. Nabiki and Akane saw that there were several foot marks over Kuno's body and face.

"Oh my. Each blow has hit a vulnerable spot." Akane said in amazement.

"You kicked him?" Nabiki said as she watched Steve as she was waving her hand in front of Kuno's open eyes. When it got no response, Steve shrugged her shoulders and stood up. "I never even saw it."

"'Upperclassman Kuno' didn't have much did he?" Ranma said as he was popping a few joints.

"What do you mean? You took a hit didn't you?" Akane said.

"Oh that?" Ranma said with a bored tone, while crossing arms behind his head, while looking bored.

"Is it really all right?" Steve asked looking at the wound.

"Doesn't even itch." Ranma said and then Steve poked the wound and was startled back a couple of steps as Ranma dropped to his knees and hissed in pain as tears appeared in his eyes.

"So Upperclassman Kuno didn't have much, eh?" Akane taunted as the tears started running down Ranma's cheeks. Her anger left her temporarily as she wondered what distracted Ranma in the fight. "Say, what was it that distracted you in the fight?"

Ranma looked up at Akane and handed her some of the pictures he had. Akane took a look at the pictures and saw that the three she had were pictures of her working out.

"Why do you have pictures of me?" Akane demanded.

"Why do I ..." Ranma tried replying, but Steve interrupted before Ranma could make anymore trouble for himself.

"Kuno had these pictures, Akane. When Ranma kicked him, they came flying out of his clothes." Akane gave Steve a look. "Besides, you weren't the only one he had." Steve showed her the pictures that she had that showed Ranma's female form. Akane suddenly realized what had happened.

"Nabiki!" Akane shouted.

"Can't blame a girl for making a little money on the side." Nabiki replied as Akane glared at her.

"Tsk, tsk, really." Ranma said standing up with Akane at his back, looking at the pictures of himself taking off his shirt. "As if anybody'd want pictures of a dorky girl anyway. I don't know how you'll ever find a husband. Now me on the other hand ..."

Ranma failed to finish his sentence because Akane's temper peaked and then she started to beat Ranma up. Steve was wide-eyed at the violence Akane was doing. Steve didn't want to be near there and hid behind Nabiki. When Akane finished beating Ranma, she dusted her hands off and had a satisfied smile. Steve looked at Ranma and saw that he was twitching and was bent all out of shape. His arms and legs were bent at all angles that the joints shouldn't be bent at. As Akane neared Nabiki, Steve made sure Nabiki was in-between them.

"Are you sure that was necessary?" Nabiki asked Akane.

"He deserved it." Akane replied.

"Well, I think you should take him to see Tofu."

"All right."

Akane picked Ranma up and started walking towards Dr. Tofu's place. Nabiki left to head home as Steve followed Akane at a certain distance. Akane realized what Steve was doing, and told her that it was all right, she won't hurt her. Steve asked if she promised and Akane promised that she wouldn't. So Steve came closer and offered to help Akane carry Ranma.

xxxxx

"Dr. Tofu. A patient for you." Akane announced when they entered. Dr. Tofu sat down and stared at Ranma, who was lying on the examination table, while Akane stood next to Tofu and Steve sat on the chair on the other side of the table.

"This is astounding." Tofu said looking at Ranma. "The wound from the bokken is nothing compared to these other dislocations and contusions." Turned to face Akane. "This is brutal. What kind of thug did this?"

"Uh ..." Akane stumbled on what to say and blushed in embarrassment. Tofu looked at Akane and also looked at Steve, who was looking else where. He then heard a groan from Ranma, so he turned to face him.

"A ... a ... a dorky girl did it to me." Ranma replied. Akane quickly got angry and picked up one end of the table and dumped Ranma on the floor.

"Say that one more time, Ranma, and ..." Akane stopped speaking when she saw Steve staring at her wide-eyed and Tofu just looking at her calmly. Akane dropped the table in embarrassment and started blushing hotly.

"You did this Akane?" Tofu asked.

"Um ... well ... that is ..." Akane stuttered in trying to speak.

"What's with the sweet and innocent bit?" Ranma thought. Tofu then slapped his knee.

"Well, it figures. I had a feeling." Tofu starts laughing and then sees Steve trying to put Ranma back on the table. So he then helped Steve place Ranma on the table. "The way this joint's twisted backwards, for instance, that's Akane's touch all right."

Tofu started healing Ranma by placing the joints back in the proper position. But by doing that, several cracks, pops, and snaps could be heard over Ranma's shouts of pain. Steve was just staring at what the doctor was doing, in shock.

"You're Ranma, aren't you? I hear you're Akane's fiancée." Tofu asked as he continued on Ranma.

"That's what our parent's decided, not us." Akane retaliated.

"Well, it's too early, isn't it? You're still children after all." Tofu said.

"Yes doctor." Akane said quietly.

"So you're the new Tendo aren't you?" Tofu now faced Steve while continuing on Ranma, causing Steve to realize Tofu was talking to him.

"Oh yes, my name's Talia." Steve replied.

"What a lovely name." Tofu said nicely.

"Um, thanks."

"You need to set an appointment with me so I can add you to your family's record."

"Uh, okay."

"That hurts." Ranma yelled in Tofu's face when Tofu was done with Ranma.

"Oh? Someplace still hurts? Show me." Tofu asked Ranma.

"Uh ... it's okay. I'm better now." Ranma said, moving his body around to see if any place still hurts.

"Isn't he a great doctor?" Akane said smiling.

They got up to leave, and as they were leaving, Akane and Steve continued walking and stopped at the gate when Tofu called Ranma off to the side to talk privately.

"Fiancée or not, do try to get along with Akane." Tofu said.

"It's not like I start the fights or anything. She just overreacts to every little thing." Ranma replied to Tofu.

"Ah, but she's such a sweet girl."

"She is?" Ranma said in surprise.

"You don't have to sound so surprised." Both of them glance over and see Steve and Akane waiting patiently for them. "You'll understand soon enough. She's really a very sweet girl." Tofu then pats Ranma on the hip and sends him on his way.

They were halfway back to the Tendo Dojo when Akane finally broke the silence.

"What were you and Tofu talking about?" Akane asked.

"Nothing. He was sympathizing with me for having to deal with a crazed, violent lunatic like you." Ranma said and saw Akane twitch. He then jumped back into a defensive stance. "I'm ready."

"Oh, I see." Akane said when she realized what Ranma was trying to do and just continued walking.

Ranma stood confused for a moment before following after Akane. As Ranma got near her, he tried to get a look at her face, but she just turned her head the other way. Ranma then grabbed the bow that was in her hair and pulled back on it.

"It was a joke. Now you're acting like a real girl, Sissy." Ranma said.

"Who's a sissy?" Akane asked with anger entering her voice and glared at Ranma. "You looking for a fight?"

"Okay, that's the Akane I'm used to." Ranma said happily.

"What's wrong with you?" Akane asked angrily and started swinging her book bag at Ranma, who dodged and she almost hit Steve.

"Hey, watch it." Steve yelled out.

"Sorry." Akane said and continued swinging at Ranma.

xxxxx

"Three ... two ... one!" Tofu said, looking at the clock on a wall.

xxxxx

As Akane swung her book bag at Ranma, suddenly his legs gave out from under him and he fell on his butt. Akane stopped swinging when it happened and then knelt near Ranma, as he was trying to stand with no success.

"What is it?" Akane asked.

"My legs." Ranma said and then realized what happened and thought to himself. "Why that lousy ...! When he patted me, he did something to my hips." Then he noticed Akane and Steve helping him stand.

"What are you doing?" Ranma asked.

"What does it look like, we're helping you since you can't walk, can you?" Akane said.

"What? You think a 'man' will put up with this humiliation of being carried by two girls." Ranma said.

Akane started to get angry, but stopped when Steve grabbed her arm and pulled her to a nearby hose. Steve then turned on the water and turned the water on Ranma, turning Ranma to his female form.

"It's okay if we're all girls, hm?" Steve asked, turning off the water and Ranma got a defeated look. So Akane and Steve were able to prop Ranma on their shoulders and helped Ranma back to the Dojo.

"She's really a very sweet girl, you'll understand soon enough." Ranma remembered Tofu's words. "Not yet buddy, not yet." Ranma thought as they continued on back to the Dojo.

xxxxx

SOMEWHERE ON EARTH

In a dark room where only a small floor panel offered any light in the room, stood six robed beings in a circle around the lighted floor panel. They all stood there until they heard a voice speaking.

"What do you have to update?" The voice boomed.

"The Earth defenders have defeated our latest assault force." Replied the first robed being.

"What new do we have on them?" The voice asked.

"From our latest observations, they are reaching their limit in power." The second robed being replied.

"What else was observed about them?"

"They seem to work in a team, in order to defeat our forces." The third robed being said.

"What have you come up with to defeat these defenders?"

"Two things we have come up with. First keep sending weak forces to tire them out, and second, is to break their morale with each other so they don't work as a team." The forth being said.

"What have you come up with to break their morale?"

"We plan to hit them with a ray that will deliver a nano machine that will make its way to the victim's brain and make them easy to send small messages to delude them of the fact." The fifth being said.

"Make it happen. Remember we need to secure the place known as Tokyo, in order for the invasion force to arrive safely. That is the point on this world where our transport beam will hit this world. We must not fail."

"Yes sir." All six robed beings said and then the light goes out.

xxxxx

AFTER SCHOOL IN JUUBAN

The inner Senshi were called by Michiru and Haruka to meet at Rei's Shrine after school. They were wondering what they wanted, they were very urgent about wanting to talk to them. So they were waiting patiently until they showed up. They didn't have to wait long before Michiru and Haruka showed up with Hotaru. When they sat down, they noticed that Hotaru had an unusual smile to her face.

"So what did you two want to talk about?" Rei asked.

"There was a situation that happened yesterday." Michiru said.

"What happened?" Usagi asked.

"We were called into Hotaru's school to talk to Hotaru's principle today." Michiru said.

"It appears that several boys from her school claimed that Hotaru beat them up." Haruka said.

"What?" Everyone else exclaimed.

"But the problem with their claim is that Hotaru was with us at the time the boys said Hotaru beat them up." Michiru said.

"Why would they say that?" Ami asked.

"It's Saria!" Hotaru blurted out.

"Why would you say that?" Minako asked.

"Who else could it be?" Hotaru said smiling. "According to Luna, she's supposed to be my twin, so the boys could have mistaken her for me."

"That could be." Makoto said.

"We have to find her." Hotaru said.

"That may not be a good idea, Hotaru." Michiru said.

"What do you mean?" Hotaru asked.

"Remember, Luna also said that they may be our enemy." Michiru replied.

"Oh." Hotaru felt depressed, being so close but couldn't be near her so called twin.

"Don't worry Hotaru; she could be looking for you." Chibi-Usa said to Hotaru, who then had a confused look. "That Helios guy knew were to find us, so it's most likely the Star Senshi know where to find us if they really wanted too. With Saria going around town could mean that she is looking around."

"That does bring up a good point, they do know where to find us if they really wanted too." Makoto said.

Usagi was thinking that if the Star Senshi were looking for them, it could help her in her search for them. They then started commenting that since Saria made an appearance that the others of the Star Senshi will start showing up. So they started discussing on where and what they were going to do when they had to face them. Just then, Ami's computer started beeping. She looked at what the computer was telling her and gasped. When the others asked her what was up, she told them that they had another monster attacking. So they transformed and went to confront the monster.

xxxxx

When the Senshi arrived at the scene, they only found one monster terrorizing a street. It was humanoid with a bat-like head. It had two pod-like items, one on each shoulder. It was about eight feet tall, and had normal looking hairless skin that was colored brown. When the Senshi arrived, they saw the monster grabbing people and throwing that person into a wall.

Sailor Moon started her speech, but had to dodge out of the way when the monster threw a person at her. The other Senshi checked the person and found that the person was dead. So the Senshi started to attack the monster. The Senshi realized that the monster was very quick and agile, when the monster was able to dodge all of their attacks. Tuxedo Kamen showed up and saw that the Senshi were having trouble hitting the monster, so he decided to see if he could help out and cause a diversion to distract the monster. Even with Tuxedo Kamen helping them, they were still unable to hit it because it was still dodging all over the place.

The Senshi knew they were in trouble when the monster grabbed Chibi-moon and threw her into Sailor Moon. Both of them fell to the ground in a tangled mess. Sailor Saturn went over to help them out while the others continued to fight the monster. The monster dodged all the attacks until the Senshi were in a group, except for Sailor moon, Chibi-moon, and Saturn. The monster then popped open it's two pods to reveal a bazooka like barrel inside each one that was glowing red. Mercury realized that it was a weapon, but was too late to warn the others as the blast hit everyone except Sailor Moon, Chibi-moon, and Saturn.

Saturn saw what happened and used a 'Silence Glaive Surprise' and the monster disintegrated. Saturn and the others ran over and checked to see if the others were all right. Upon initial inspection, the others looked all right, and when Mercury scanned them, she told them that the blast only just weakened them and by morning, they should be all right. They were about to leave, but they heard a cat yowl in pain. They found Luna and Artemis under several boxes that were hit by the blast. They picked them up and left the scene before the police and paramedics arrived.

That night, everyone that was hit with the blast, started to have a change in their sleep. The blast that hit them, carried little nano bots that went to their brains to grow to receive special signals. When they were done growing, they started to receive the signals to have the Senshi start hating Usagi. So during when the Senshi slept, they started to have dreams where Usagi was the cause of all their pain. No matter how much they tried, they kept having nightmares about Usagi causing them pain in their lives. So when they finally woke up the next morning, they were very tired.

xxxxx

NEXT DAY

In the morning, the Saotome's and Steve did their usual morning sparring before breakfast. After a while of sparring, Steve went and took a bath to wash off, so he could help Kasumi finish breakfast. The problem that happened was that Akane suddenly entered the bathroom as Steve was standing up in the furo. Akane suddenly started blushing as Steve quickly wrapped his towel around him. The saving grace that Steve had was that Akane had her towel wrapped around her. Akane quickly apologized and Steve asked if the sign that he set up was still there. They checked and found that it had fallen off. So after the misunderstanding, Akane went into to take her bath while Steve got dressed.

So during breakfast, Akane couldn't bring herself to look at Steve. Every time she did look at him, the image of what she saw would keep popping in her head. So once breakfast was done, she quickly left and headed towards school as Ranma and Steve followed behind her at a slower pace. Ranma was a little confused at why Akane was acting weird and asked Steve if he knew, and Steve told him to just drop the subject and that Akane would be her normal angry self later in the day. Ranma dropped the subject and they continued on to school.

xxxxx

Right at the end of the school day, as the students were leaving, a lone figure in a dirty yellow and green traveling gear, a backpack with a bamboo umbrella, and a yellow and black striped bandana on his head, was standing at the main gate. The students were wondering what that person was doing there, just standing there. As a student walked pass that person and suddenly the person quickly reached out and grabbed the student.

"You." The person said as he grabbed the student.

"Wh ... what do you want?" The student asked nervously.

"Where's Furinkan high school?" The person asked.

"Say what?" The student asked as his nervousness changed to confusion. The student then pointed to the sign that was behind the person's shoulder. The person looked over his shoulder and read the sign that said 'Furinkan High School'. The person then faced the student again.

"Where is Ranma Saotome?" The person asked.

"Saotome?" The student said and then looked into the school yard. The person looked into the school yard and saw the person who he was looking for.

At that moment, Ranma was running away from an angry Akane. He was easily dodging the slow walking students as Akane was chasing him and shouting at him.

"Ranma! Stop!" Akane shouted.

"Come and get me." Ranma shouted back as he jumped into the air to avoid Akane. It was then that his danger sense started to warn him. "Trouble." Ranma thought.

He looked up and saw a person above him heading towards him with a bamboo umbrella as a weapon. They both landed at the same point and when Ranma jumped back, a crater suddenly appeared where the umbrella landed and four feet around. Ranma landed and looked at the crater that appeared. He was amazed that the person could cause a crater with a bamboo umbrella. The person with the umbrella looked up and smiled evilly at Ranma.

"You haven't changed, Ranma." The person said to Ranma. "You're still good at running away."

"Someone you know?" Akane asked Ranma when she came up to him.

"Yeah, sure, he's ... he's ..." Ranma started to say but then trailed off and then started thinking and really thinking, but not coming up with anything.

"Don't strain your brain remembering, Ranma." Akane told Ranma sarcastically.

"Just tell me one thing, Ranma." The person said. "Why did you run out on our ..."

The person was stopped short when a school bag hit the back of his head. He turned around to face the person that hit him. He saw a person standing there with a school bag and was smiling at him.

"Why did you hit me with your school bag?" The person asked somewhat angrily.

"Because your head is hard as an ox's and for you disappearing on me ... Sensei." Steve said smiling. The person looked at Steve in confusion.

"Stack?" The person asked Steve confused.

"Long time no see, Ryoga." Steve said.

"What happened to you, you look younger all of a sudden?" Ryoga said.

"Let's just say something happened to me after you disappeared on me." Steve said.

"Oh." Ryoga remembered the day that he was no longer traveling with Steve.

"Wait! I remember." Ranma suddenly exclaimed causing everyone to look at him. "Ryoga Hibiki. You were in my class at my old middle school. Long time no see."

"Answer my question." Ryoga said as he remembered that Ranma was there and he got his anger back.

"What question?" Ranma asked.

"Why did you run out on our fight?" Ryoga said angrily.

"I waited three days at the appointed place." Ranma replied.

"Three days!" Everyone that was around exclaimed.

"Yes. And when I showed up on the fourth day, you had already had run away." Ryoga said.

"Ryoga? Can I ask you something? Why did it take you four days to get to the empty lot behind your house?" Ranma asked.

"Do you think I was out for a casual stroll for four days? I suffered to meet up with you." Ryoga said as he started hearing people around him talking about him having a bad sense of direction. "Breaking a vow between men and running to China with your father."

Ryoga then slashed out at Ranma with his umbrella but Ranma was able to jump out of the way easily and land several feet away.

"In other words, you want to finish our fight?" Ranma said.

"'Finish our fight'? How feeble. This is for revenge." Ryoga said angrily and opened up his umbrella and then threw it at Ranma.

The umbrella was spinning like a top as Ranma dodged out of the way. The umbrella kept going as the other students had to dodge out of the way as it when pass them. The umbrella spun around and went past Ryoga and stopped at Steve's feet. Some of the students that were nicked by the umbrella were taken to the nurse's office to treat their wounds. Ryoga just faced Ranma angrily.

"No matter what it takes, Ranma, I shall destroy your happiness." Ryoga said angrily.

"My happiness?" Ranma said confused and then faced Akane. "Am I happy?"

"Don't ask me." Akane replied.

Ryoga was about to comment when he was hit in the back of his head again. He turned around and saw that it was Steve again, but this time he had his umbrella.

"Would you cut that out?" Ryoga said.

"Man, I forgot how heavy this thing was." Steve said quietly to himself then said to Ryoga. "I did that because you injured some students here. What did I tell you about this conflict you have with Red? I don't care what you do about it; just keep it between the two of you and not to injure any bystanders."

"Sorry Stack." Ryoga said.

"It's not me you have to say you're sorry to." Steve replied.

"He wouldn't be able to find them anyway." Ranma said as a smart comment.

"Why you..." Ryoga got angrily and grabbed the umbrella from Steve and chased after Ranma.

Ranma started running towards the school with Ryoga right behind him. Within a matter of minutes, Ranma returned and Ryoga was no where to be seen. Ranma returned to where Akane and Steve where standing and he had a smile on his face. He failed to notice the scowl on Steve's face when he returned.

"That should keep him busy for a while." Ranma said and then noticed Steve's expression. "What's wrong Stack?"

"Well, thanks a lot Red, it's been over a month since I last saw him and I wanted to talk with him. But you had to run him off and who knows when I will see him again. He is my first Sensei in the martial arts if you remember." Steve replied with a small amount of anger in his voice.

"Sorry Stack." Ranma said as he remembered that Steve did tell him that Ryoga was the person that started to teach him martial arts.

"I'm heading back to the Dojo; I'll see you two later." Steve said and then left the school yard, leaving Ranma and Akane there in minor confusion.

xxxxx

Kasumi had asked Steve to go over to the Juuban Ward to pick up a couple of special items for her for the next day's meals. Steve being the nice guy he is, agreed to help her out. En route to the train station, Steve was splashed with water by a water sprinkler. Steve didn't feel like changing back was important and continued to the train station. Once she arrived in Juuban, she looked at the list Kasumi gave her and headed to the first place on it.

When Steve was done with that store, she was carrying the bag in her arms and walked out of the store. Steve was adjusting the bag to a better position; she failed to notice the person in front of her. They collided and Steve fell to her butt, still hanging on to the bag. Steve stood back up and apologized for not paying attention to where she was going. Steve looked at the person she bumped into and saw that it was the same person she and Ranma had bumped into before.

"That's all right dear, no harm done." The woman said after Steve apologized to her. Then the woman looked at Steve as she seemed to remember something. "Have we met before?"

"We sort of ran into each other before when a friend of mine was with me." Steve replied.

"Oh yes, I remember now. So who are you my dear?"

"Talia Tendo."

"Any relation to a Soun Tendo?"

"My father's name is Soun." Steve replied, playing the role of Talia.

"I see." The woman remembers that she didn't give her name. "My name is Nodoka Saotome."

"Any relation to a Genma or a Ranma Saotome?"

"My husband and son have those names."

Steve happen to glance at her watch and see that she had to get hurrying if she wanted to get what Kasumi wanted.

"It was nice talking to you, Mrs. Saotome, but I have to hurry and get the rest of the items my sister needs." Steve said to Nodoka.

"All right, it was nice talking to you dear. Have fun now." Nodoka said.

Steve said farewell and they headed in different directions. She then looked at the list and headed to the next store. Steve went to every store she had to go to and was heading back to the train station. When she was near the train station, Steve passed an alley and felt hands grab her and pulled into the alley. When Steve got her bearings, Steve saw four boys in front of her. It was then that Steve recognized the four boys in front of her.

"Didn't you guys get it last time; I'm not this Hotaru person." Steve said.

"Shut up freak, we don't know how you did it last time, but we are going to get you for what you did to us." The leader of the boys said. Steve set the bags off to the side and got into a defensive stance. The boys started laughing at Steve. "Hey look guys; she thinks she's a martial artist."

The boy walked over and tried to grab Steve, but to his surprise, he found that rather difficult when he flew into a bunch of trash cans. He quickly stood up and brushes off his clothes.

"You'll pay for that freak." The boy said.

All four boys rushed Steve, and she had to really start fighting back. At the end of the fight, all four boys were on the ground moaning in pain, with several bruises and cuts over their bodies. Steve wasn't fairing to well either. She had several bruises, a cut lip, and her shirt was torn at the seams at the shoulder, and she had a minor limp. Steve was glad that Kasumi's items weren't damaged and collected the bags and headed to the train station.

Steve arrived back at the Dojo an hour later than what she wanted. En route back to Nerima, it started raining. So when Steve got to the Nerima station, she waited there for a while for the rain to stop. She used that time to go to the restroom to clean herself up. She was glad that no one was in the women's restroom at the time while she cleaned herself up.

After she was done, she waited for a while for the rain to die down. Luckily it died down to a drizzle a while later, so Steve started to head to the Dojo. She was glad that she was all ready changed, because by the time she got to the Dojo, she was soaked. As she got to the gate, she found an animal by the gate. As Steve approached, the animal went into a defensive crouch. Steve stopped and looked at the animal and realized that the animal was really a brown fox that was wearing a yellow and black striped bandana for a collar. Steve approached and crouched down and offered her hand out to the animal.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you." Steve said nicely as she waited for the fox to come nearer. "Don't worry there." The fox then approached Steve and she started petting it. "Now where are you from?" The fox then cuddles up to Steve. "Jeez, you're soaked as much as I am. Come on, let's go inside and I can dry you off, warm you up, and find your owner." Steve picks the fox up without much struggling from the fox and the fox starts licking Steve's face. "Okay, okay, quit it." Then they entered the Dojo.

Steve enters and takes off her shoes and announces she's back. She walks into the living room and found Ranma, in female form wearing an undershirt and boxers, and the Tendo sister's around Ryoga's backpack and clothes.

"Hey Kasumi, here's the items you wanted, sorry if they are damp, but the rain caught me off guard." Steve said.

"That's all right Stack ... oh my." Kasumi gasped when she noticed Steve's appearance. Kasumi's exclamation caused the others to look at Steve and noticed the bruises, cut lip, and torn clothes.

"What happened to you?" Nabiki asked.

"Remember those boy's I told you about that confused me with someone else?" Steve asked and after everyone nodded she continued. "Apparently they got confused again and this time they were out for blood."

"What did you do?" Akane asked.

"I defended myself. Needless to say, I'll be feeling this in the morning, but the good part is they're going to be feeling it even more." Steve replied.

Kasumi finally comes over and takes the bags from Steve and then notices the fox Steve was carrying.

"Oh my, where did you get the fox?" Kasumi asked and then everyone notices the fox.

"He was outside the gate when I arrived. Since he has this bandana around his neck, I figured he was someone's pet. Since it was raining out, I figured I'd dry him off and warm him up, so tomorrow after school I can look for his owner." Steve replied.

"That's nice of you." Kasumi said smiling.

"What's up with Ryoga's stuff?" Steve asked.

"Oh, Ryoga came looking to settle our fight, but the rain came and I turned into a girl. Ryoga was surprised and I was able to kick him into the rain. Then all of a sudden Ryoga just ran off. When I followed after him, I only found his clothes and backpack." Ranma replied.

"I hope he's not running around naked." Steve said surprised at what Ryoga had done.

"I'm sure that moron knows what he's doing." Ranma said.

"Hey Red, you're bad mouthing my first Sensei." Steve said and noticed that the fox was growling at Ranma when Ranma called Ryoga a moron, but quit growling when Steve talked and was now staring at Steve.

"Sorry Stack." Ranma said.

"Apology accepted." Steve said and then faced Kasumi. "Hey Kasumi, is any of my clothes washed yet?"

"Yes, they're in the dryer right now." Kasumi replied.

"Can you send a set to the washroom for me; I need something to change out of. I'll be going to warm up for a bit and then you can tell me all about when Ryoga showed up."

Steve went to the wash room and set the fox down and started removing her clothes. She hissed in pain as she stretched in positions the bruises didn't want to. After she removed all her clothes, she picked up the fox and went into the bath area. After Steve quickly washed herself, she picked the fox up and headed to the furo. Steve absently noticed that the fox was just staring at her. When the fox felt the steam of the furo, it started to struggle out of Steve's grip.

"Whoa, hey, quit it." Steve said as the fox slipped out of her grip and fell into the furo.

Steve was just about to go after the fox when a male human body sat up in the furo. Steve stumbled back in surprise as the person just sat there. It was when the person suddenly became bugged-eyed, blushed very heavily, and turned his head away that Steve recognized the person.

"Ryoga? You're the fox?" Steve asked and Ryoga just nodded, still looking away. Steve was wondering what was going on, when she remembered that she was female and the position she was in was giving Ryoga a show of all of her glory. She quickly grabbed a bucket and poured some furo water on herself, turning into a male. "Better now?"

"Yes, thanks Stack." Ryoga said sighing in relief. "So it really is you in that girl form."

"I could say the same about the fox."

"You got a point there."

"So you ended up going to Jusenkyo."

"I was following a lead on Ranma when I came to looking over a cliff ledge over several pools. Just then, this panda came out of the woods with a crazed red-head after it. The girl knocked me over the ledge and I fell in one of the pools and I came out a fox." Ryoga said and then noticed that Steve was staring at him wide-eyed. "What is it, Stack?"

"It was you!" Steve exclaimed.

"What about me?"

"After me, Red, and his father got our curses, Ranma went berserk and chased after his father to kill him. I ran after them to try and stop him, when I saw Red knock a person over the ledge. When I finally caught up with Red, I gave him a chewing out."

"Who's Red?"

"My nickname for Ranma."

"I see, so it's because of Ranma I have this curse?"

"I guess so."

Before Ryoga could say anything, they were interrupted.

"Hey Sis, I got your clothes for you." Came Akane's voice from behind the door. Before Steve could say anything, Akane opened the door.

Ryoga ducked under the water in fright and Akane realized that Steve was nude and in his male form, with another naked boy. Akane blushed heavily and looked down. Steve covered himself with a towel as best as he could.

"You know Akane, I don't mind playing your little sister, but don't forget I'm also male." Steve said to Akane. "This is the second time today that you walked in on me."

"I'm ... sorry." Akane said quietly.

"Apology accepted, but could you get Ryoga's clothes for me, before he decides to drowned himself." Steve asked Akane and looked into the furo at the underwater Ryoga.

"That's Ryoga?" Akane said in surprised.

"Yes, I'll tell you all about it later, now please close the door."

Akane closed the door and Steve pulled Ryoga out of the water to breath. A couple of minutes later, they heard Akane say that the clothes were in there. When they heard Akane leave, they got out of the furo and got dressed. They walked to the living room, with Steve guiding Ryoga there, and they sat across from Ranma. Kasumi had a first aid kit ready and started treating Steve's injuries.

"Where's the fox?" Nabiki asked.

"Turns out that Ryoga here is the fox." Steve said between hisses of pain.

"How?" Nabiki asked.

"Hey Red, remember when I told you about the person you knocked off the ledge at Jusenkyo?" Steve asked.

"Yeah." Ranma replied remembering.

"It was Ryoga that you knocked into Jusenkyo." Steve said.

"Oh." Ranma said.

"So tell me what I missed when I was shopping." Steve asked.

"You going to tell us what happened to you?" Akane asked.

"Okay." Steve agreed.

They traded stories on what happened after School. Nabiki then asked about Ryoga's fox form. Steve made a comment that the dog catchers would be after him when he was a fox. So they started to think of ways to help. Steve had made a comment that 'Talia' would like to have a pet. Steve explained what he meant and the other's agreed that if Ryoga was around in fox form, he could be 'Talia's' pet to help save Ryoga if he was caught when he was in fox form.

Akane then said what name should they give Ryoga's fox form. They thought about it for a moment and then Steve said how about 'Haiyashi'. When everyone asked why that name, Steve just said that it just came to him. Ryoga thought about it and agreed to the plan. Then Steve got up and said that he was going to bed to heal. So after Steve left, Kasumi offered Ryoga a place to stay for the night.

xxxxx

Throughout the day at Usagi's school, she noticed that the other Senshi were looking very tired. When Usagi asked them what was wrong, they would snap at her for a reply. Usagi was surprised that they would snap at her, but they would quickly apologize, saying they didn't get much sleep. That night, the dreams the Senshi had were more powerful, more intense than the night before.

xxxxx

NEXT DAY

The next morning, Ranma and Steve sparred as usual, but Steve had Ryoga join them. After the sparring, when Kasumi had called them in for breakfast, Ryoga had disappeared when they entered the house. So after a quick search of the house, it was confirmed that Ryoga was no where to be found. After breakfast, they all headed to school. As school began, Ranma started to fall asleep in class. Steve had kept waking him up whenever he could. During one of the times that Steve was waking Ranma up, the teacher got fed up and sent both of them in the hall to hold buckets.

Both of them were standing there for several minutes when Steve heard a noise and looked in that direction. When he saw what was causing the noise, he was surprised. It was Kuno running at them with buckets in his hands again.

"Red, behind you!" Steve shouted as Kuno came charging down the hall, buckets in hand. "It's the nutcase!"

Ranma jumped out of the way as Steve backed away nervously, and then swore when he saw Ranma kick the buckets out of Kuno's hands. He was almost to the corner when he saw that he wouldn't escape in time. After the water struck, he quickly turned the corner, swearing as he changed. She stood there shivering for several seconds, more from fear than cold, then decided to find out what was going on. She was about to look when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"What are you doing out here, young lady?" A female teacher demanded. "Why are you not in class, and why are you wet?"

"I'm new here Sensei." Steve replied nervously. "I umm ... got a little lost and walked into a water fight between two boys. I got hit with a bucket of water when I tried to move out of the way."

"Where are you trying to go?" The teacher asked more patiently.

"I'm trying to visit my sisters. I wanted to get to the office to tell them why I'm here." She said, acting near tears. "The man at the gate said I should go left, up the stairs, and then right, but I haven't been able to find it. Could you help me?"

"Of course dear." The teacher said kindly. "In fact, I'll take you there myself. Once you're registered there, I'll take you to get a temporary uniform for you, don't want you going around in wet, oversized clothes, now do we?"

"No, Sensei, thank you." Steve said with a gush. "Ranma, you owe me big time for this one." She thought as she followed the teacher. After answering several questions from the teacher, and dodging a couple, while remembering the history Nabiki came up for his role as 'Talia'. They arrived at the office and went in.

"And what do we have here, Miss Kikuchi, another young delinquent?" The secretary said with a glare at Steve.

"No, Mrs. Okazaki, merely a lost little girl." Miss Kikuchi said with a smile. "This young lady was given very poor directions by Mr. Tanaka. She would like to visit her sisters."

"Very well." Mrs. Okazaki said, bustling about with some forms. "This shouldn't take long at all. What is your name and who are you visiting?"

"My name is Talia." Steve said. "Talia Tendo and I'm here to visit my sisters Akane and Nabiki Tendo." Mrs. Okazaki typed that onto the form.

"Age?" The secretary asked.

"Thirteen." Steve replied with more confidence over the situation.

"Why are you not in school?" Miss Kikuchi asked in concern. "Shouldn't you be in junior high school?"

"No Ma'am, I mean Sensei. I am home tutored. My Sensei didn't show up today, so I thought I would visit my sisters in school." Steve replied innocently. "I'll be damned if I'll go to Junior high school again." Steve thought to herself. "High school is bad enough."

"What grade did they say you should be in?" Miss Kikuchi asked in wonder.

"Well, my sensei didn't really tell me." Steve said, looking confused. "But they did say I'm very smart."

"I'm sure you are dear." Miss Kikuchi said in shock, seeing her own question mirrored in Mrs. Okazaki's face. "We can find out for you if you want?"

"We can give you a test to tell what grade you can be in." Mrs. Okazaki said.

"Okay, may I take the test now please?" Steve asked eagerly, enjoying herself in the role-playing she was doing. "I don't want to miss too much of my first day of a real school."

"It will take me about fifteen minutes to prepare for the test." Mrs. Okazaki replied, smiling at 'Talia's' contagious good humor. "Why don't you go get Miss Tendo a temporary uniform, while I do that Miss Kikuchi?" Her tone said she thought of the students the same, nuisances to be dealt with quickly then banished.

Steve followed Miss Kikuchi to the girl's locker room and, keeping her eyes from the various undressed girls there, to the uniform shop.

"Hello Mrs. Tsuchida." Miss Kikuchi greeted the friendly older woman behind the counter. "Might you have something to fit someone of this young ladies stature? She needs a uniform for today."

"My my, she looks to be only twelve or thirteen, Chieko-chan." Mrs. Tsuchida said.

"That's because she is thirteen." Miss Kikuchi said blushing lightly and informed her why they were there.

"Well, what a surprise." Mrs. Tsuchida laughed merrily. "Let me take your measurements and I'll have the uniform ready for you by the time your evaluation is done." She fitted actions to words by ushering Steve into the changing room and taking her measurements. After protesting mildly about Steve's underwear, she completed her notes and sent her out. Miss Kikuchi led her back to the office where she was ushered into an isolation room and given the test.

Steve had no problems with the math and science parts, and she breezed through English and world studies. It was only when she came to Japanese and Japanese history that the gaps in her knowledge began to show. When Mrs. Okazaki scored the test, the results achieved ranking in grade eleven, based on her best subjects.

"You will need to take better lessons in order to bring you up to standards in your weak areas however." Mrs. Okazaki said. "Once you have received your uniform, you will be joining your sister Nabiki in room 2-E."

"Why am I not going to see Akane?" Steve asked.

"She seems to have left the school yard." Mrs. Okazaki replied.

"Oh." Steve said, thinking on what could have happened to Ranma when the teacher had caught her.

"Besides, since you have the same grade level as your sister Nabiki, you can start visiting her, and if Akane returns, you can visit with her then." Mrs. Okazaki

Steve nodded, and then followed the route back to the locker room. Mrs. Tsuchida had her uniform ready and waiting when she arrived. When the grandmotherly woman noticed Steve's hesitance, she smiled and said that since she was the youngest girl in the school by many years, she could change in the dressing room. Steve thanked the woman and changed into the uniform. It fit perfectly, and Steve made sure to thank the woman for her hard work, then made her way back to the office, picked up her school pass, and then proceeded to room 2-E. It was only when she noticed Nabiki sitting bolt upright in her chair that Steve smiled.

"Class, this is Miss Talia Tendo, here to visit her sisters." The teacher said, looking a little bewildered. "Please help her to feel welcome."

The entire class greeted her and she smiled at them shyly.

"Well, since you are visiting your sister, why don't you go and sit next to her." The teacher said and moved Kuno to an empty desk. As the teacher returned to his lecture on molecular theory, Nabiki turned to her new study partner.

"Stack, is that you?" Nabiki asked in a low tone. Steve only nodded. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Akane's class?"

"It's a long story, Nabiki." Steve said in a low tone, and then noticed the teacher looking speculatively at Nabiki. After scanning the notes he had put on the board, Steve prepared to help Nabiki with the question that was coming.

"Miss Nabiki Tendo, will you please give me the name of the bonds responsible for water's expansion at low temperatures?" The teacher asked, expecting Nabiki not to answer.

Nabiki came to her feet, blushing a little. Before she could say anything, Steve handed her a small note. Glancing at it as if looking at her hands, Nabiki smiled. "Sir, the Hydrogen bonds of water are responsible for this behavior."

"Very good, Miss Tendo." The teacher said surprised. Shaking his head, he continued the lecture. As the bell rang to end class, Nabiki turned to Steve.

"Alright Stack, spill it." Nabiki said looking at her pointedly.

"Um, can't it wait Nabiki?" Steve asked, looking at the girls around them nervously. "If I tell you now, everyone will know."

"Okay, 'Talia', we'll talk about it later, when we're studying." Nabiki said, making it more of a promise than a threat. Steve winced, and then started trying to answer the many questions coming her way. She slipped away for a short time, and headed to the office to hand them a note that she had made to say that she was going to pick up 'Steve's' homework after school. Giving the reason of something very important came up and he had to take care of it. Steve also found out that Ranma and Akane didn't return to school.

In Japanese studies, the last class of the day, Steve got another surprise. The teacher was Miss Kikeuchi, and she remembered 'Talia'. After the final bell rang, she asked 'Talia' to stay behind. After agreeing to meet Nabiki at the gate, she walked to the front of the classroom.

"I know you have problems with this subject Talia, but I'd like to suggest someone to help you." Miss Kikeuchi said with a reassuring smile. "Ami is the daughter of a friend of mine. She's in this grade and would be happy to help, I think. Would you be interested?"

Not wanting to hurt the kind teacher's feelings, Steve said that she would be interested, but she had to talk to her family about it first. Miss Kikuchi understood and handed Steve a piece of paper with Ami's phone number and address on it. "I'll give her a call to let her know about you." Steve waved at the teacher, and then went to meet Nabiki at the front gate, after changing out of the uniform to return it. Since she knew that Nabiki didn't want to be kept waiting, she didn't change back to male.

"Okay, Stack, give." Nabiki said as they walked along the path. "Why did you change forms?"

"I didn't have much of a choice really." She said defensively. "Kuno attacked Ranma with two buckets, and Ranma kicked them into the air. My bad luck continued and just after I got splashed, Miss Kikuchi showed up. The only thing I could think of was pretending to be 'Talia'. That just made it worse though since she chose to help me. But as I think about it now, I much prefer some time away from Ranma the Ego."

"Careful Stack." Nabiki said with a laugh. "It can cost a lot of money to keep people from hearing insults."

"Sorry Nabiki, but Ranma already knows about that one." Steve laughed. "Speaking of Ranma, where has he and Akane been? I haven't seen them since my little adventure."

"I'll give you this one as a freebie since one of them will probably tell you anyway." Nabiki said in a tone that said this wouldn't happen very often. "Ranma jumped out of the third floor window without looking, again."

"Red does that sometimes." Steve said, shrugging her shoulders. "What about it?"

"This particular window is right above the schools swimming pool." Nabiki said smugly, and then blinked when Steve howled with laughter, stopping where she was. Steve tried to regain control of herself several times before she succeeded.

"I'm sorry." She said, still chuckling. "It's just that it is so classic. I've been warning him that he should look before he leaps, figuratively speaking, for the three weeks in China, and now the couple of weeks here, and now he gets an object lesson. So what happened? Did anyone see the change this time?"

"Not really." Nabiki replied shrugging.

"I don't know where that kid gets his luck from, but he must buy it in bulk." Steve said shaking her head. "Oh well, I guess he went home after that, I guess that is why they ..."

She froze suddenly, and then ducked around a corner. Nabiki looked around, trying to find out what had caused that reaction, but could only see a girl in silk Chinese clothes, walking down the street. She continued until she turned another corner and went out of sight.

"Is she gone?" Steve asked.

"If you mean the girl, yes." Nabiki replied with interest. "Who was that? More importantly, why are you afraid of her?"

"That will have to wait until we get back to the Dojo." Steve said, breaking into a run. "I have to warn Ranma about what's coming."

"Hey, wait up!" Nabiki yelled, trying to catch up. "You'll pay for this, Stacko!"

Steve vanished around a corner, and there was a thud sound, followed by a startled exclamation. She could be heard apologizing, then she started running again before Nabiki rounded the corner and dodged Steve's unfortunate victim, shouting for Steve to wait again as she followed him to the dojo.

When Steve and Nabiki got in front of the Dojo, Steve remembered he had to pick some things up for her family in the Juuban Ward after school, so when they had caught their breath, Steve told Nabiki that she would be back, that she had to pick stuff up in the Juuban Ward. Nabiki looked at him questionly, but told her to have fun.

After arriving in Juuban, Steve heading to the mall where the store was she had to go to. Along the way, Steve realized that she could change back and took a slight detour to a shop to order a cup of hot water. After Steve got the hot water, she went and found an isolated area and after making sure no one was watching, dumped the water over her head and turned male again. He then continued towards the shop where he had to pick up the items for his family.

After he purchased the items, he was leaving the mall, when a water fountain's water sprayed and got Steve wet. When the change occurred, Steve quickly looked to see if anyone noticed and sighed in relief when she saw that it appeared no one had noticed. So she continued on her way. She wasn't that far out of the mall when she heard a voice calling out to her.

"Talia?" A female voice called out, and it took a moment for Steve to realize she was being called.

"Yes?" Steve said turning around and saw Mrs. Saotome. "Oh, how are you Mrs. Saotome?" Steve bowed politely.

"How are you today, dear?" Nodoka asked.

"I'm fine, thank you. What can I do you for you?"

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."

"Uh okay."

"Why don't we go to the café over there to talk?"

"Okay."

Both of them headed to the café and ordered some drinks to have while they talked. They took a seat near the back of the café and talked small talk while they waited for their order. After their order arrived, and the waitress left, they really started talking.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Steve asked.

"About your family first of all." Nodoka said.

"What about them?" Steve was suddenly becoming nervous.

"You said your father's name was Soun, correct?"

"Yes."

"You have three sister's named Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane?"

"Yes."

"Why are you claiming to be their sister, I know they don't have a forth sister." Nodoka said and Steve realized that she was being found out, but she had to know one thing.

"Before I answer you, can I ask you a question first?" Steve asked.

"All right." Nodoka agreed.

"Just to make sure you are who I think you are, your husband and son went on a ten year training mission, correct?"

"Yes, which should have ended a couple of weeks ago."

"Okay then, but I want to know why Genma told Ranma you were dead. As far as Ranma knows you're dead." Steve told Nodoka and watched as she turned pale when she heard what Steve said. "I only know it has something to do with Ranma being a 'Man among Men'. What is up with that?"

Nodoka came out of her shock and then tells Steve all about the contract that was signed. Tears were rolling down Nodoka's eyes when she finished talking and asked about her son. Steve told her what she's seen of him, leaving out Jusenkyo. When Steve got done talking, Nodoka got very depressed.

"I don't want to know what you think a 'Man among Men' is, but to answer your question, I feel like I'm condemning Ranma." Steve said.

"What do you mean?" Nodoka said confused.

"You are correct when you said there wasn't a forth sister. I'm playing the adopted forth sister because of a slip of tongue. Akane claimed I was her younger sister, so instead of dishonoring her family, I started playing the role." Steve explained.

"I see and understand that, so who are you really and why are you feeling like you are condemning my son?" Nodoka asked.

"If you'll hold on a moment, I'll show you." Steve said and got up and went to get a glass of ice water and a cup of hot water. She then came back and sat back down looking at Nodoka carefully. "You are right, my real name isn't 'Talia Tendo', it's really Steven Stachowicz."

"That sounds like a boy's name."

"It is and I am. What I'm about to show you, will shock you."

"What do you mean?"

Steve looked around the place and saw that it was safe; she dumped some of the hot water on herself. Nodoka stared in shock as a thirteen year old girl turned into a sixteen year old boy. He then poured some cold water on himself and turned back to a girl. She then poured the remainder of the hot water on herself and turned back to male. When Nodoka just stared at Steve for several minutes, Steve snapped his fingers in front of her face to snap her out of the zone she was in. Nodoka shook her head to clear it.

"How is this possible?" Nodoka asked surprised.

"I'll tell you, but you have to keep an open mind, most of what I'm going to tell you will be unbelievable, but as you saw, it's true." Steve replied.

"Okay." Nodoka said nervously.

Steve then proceeded to tell her the story on how he got started on his adventure to Japan. Nodoka was surprised at the age he said he was, and he showed her his driver's license. He explained that he thinks it's a side effect of the curse. He continued to tell her everything that went on from when he met Ryoga to talking to Nodoka in the café. Nodoka was in tears again when she realized what she let happened. Steve squeezed her hand reassuringly and she smiled.

"Can I see the change again?" Nodoka asked quietly. Steve smiled at her and poured the remainder of the cold water on himself and turned back to a girl. "So my son turns to a young girl also?"

"Actually, he stay's the same age. Here." Steve said and hand over a picture of Kuno's she had. Nodoka looked at it carefully.

"So this is my son when he's a girl?" Nodoka asked.

"Yes." Steve replied.

"What did I let happen." Nodoka said quietly.

"If you want, I can help set up for you to meet Ranma." Steve said.

"Thank you."

So Steve and Nodoka talked about how they should go about setting up the meeting. After they thought of several ideas, Nodoka asked if she could keep the picture, and Steve let her. Steve saw the time and told her she had to be getting back. So they said their farewells and Steve collected her stuff and left the café. She was only a block from the café when she was roughly grabbed and thrown into a nearby alley.

Steve had dropped her bag in order to catch herself on the ground. Before she was able to know what was going on, she was kicked in the stomach and she went down. Steve was finally able to see what was going on. She saw five boys around seventeen years old, standing around her. They didn't look too happy to see her.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" One of the boys said.

"What do you want?" Steve gasped.

"To get back at you for what you did to our younger brothers." The boy replied.

"I was just defending myself."

"Well, you are going to pay for what you did." The boy said and then punched Steve in the gut. Steve fell to her knees and then two other boys grabbed her arms securely and held her up. Steve struggled to get lose, but couldn't get loose. "Now let's see what my brother said is true." He reached out and ripped open her shirt to reveal her bare chest. Steve now struggled even more. "He was correct; now let's see what else she has to offer."

The boy reached for her pants, but Steve started kicking him. The boy got fed up and punched Steve in the gut several times. Steve then went limp in the boy's arms. The boy then reached out again and pulled down her pants. All the boys were surprised when they saw she was wearing boxers. The boy went for the boxers when the sound of a sword being unsheathed got their attention. All the boys turned to the sound and found a woman standing at the entrance of the alley, holding a katana at the ready.

"I would strongly suggest you let her go." The woman said in controlled anger. The woman then took a step forward and the boys got scared. They let Steve go and ran away. After the boys left, the woman put the sword away and walked up to Steve. "Are you all right, dear?"

"Mrs. Saotome?" Steve gasped looking up.

"Yes dear." Nodoka said smiling.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, when you left, I had thought of one more question and wanted to get your attention, when I saw you pulled in here. When I got here, I saw what they were doing and I got a little upset."

"I guess I should thank that question." Steve said then Nodoka helped her to stand up. She also helped Steve put her clothes on and straightened out, when Steve noticed her shirt no longer have its ties. "This sucks; this was one of my good shirts."

"Wrap it around yourself, then we can go to my place and we can see about getting you something to wear." Nodoka said.

"Okay." Steve said and secured her shirt around herself and then went to collect her things and looked at them. "At least nothing was breakable in here."

"Shall we go; I don't live that far away."

"Okay."

They walked out of the alley and headed towards Nodoka's home. As they were walking, Steve was unconsciously walking closely to Nodoka as she was thinking on how close she had gotten to being raped. She was thinking deeply and failed to notice that Nodoka was looking at her in worry. As they walked several blocks, they started to hear people screaming. Steve was shaken out of her thoughts when the screaming was heard. She looked up at Nodoka and they both went to see what was going on.

When they got to the scene, they found out it was another monster attack and the Senshi were fighting it. They were off to the far side of the fight as those people that stayed were watching the fight. The monster seemed to be a mixture of ape and bat. As they watched, Steve seemed to notice that the fight was going a little different than the last one she saw. This one, it seemed that the Senshi were more fighting with themselves than the monster.

The Senshi was able to defeat the monster, but it seemed it was by pure luck. The monster just missed dodging out of the way and it took a hit. From that point on, it was defeated easily. When the fight ended, the Senshi were arguing, who Steve thought was Sailor Moon, about what she could have done better. Then the Senshi left in a hurry, with Sailor Moon left more slowly. After everything died down, Nodoka and Steve continued on their way.

When they arrived at Nodoka's house, Nodoka showed Steve where the bathroom was. When Steve was in the bathroom, she cleaned herself as best as she could. She then heard a knock at the door and Steve told the person to enter. Mrs. Saotome entered the room with a sorry look.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked when she saw the look Nodoka had.

"Well, I was going to lend you some clothes to use, but all the clothes of Genma are gi's." Nodoka said.

"I don't want to wear any of them." Steve replied.

"I understand, but all of Ranma's clothes are too small."

"I see your point." Steve said, and then noticed that Nodoka had a look to her that said she wanted to say something. "What is it?"

"Well, I don't know how to put this, since I know who you really are, but if you want to, I think I still have my old school uniform you could wear." Nodoka replied uncertainly.

"It doesn't bother me, it's not like I've done that before in my life." Steve said which caused Nodoka to give Steve a funny look. "Throughout my high school and college years, we had a spirit week, and one of those days was called 'Opposite day'. It's a day where we would come to school dressed as the opposite gender."

"Oh." Nodoka said after Steve's explaination.

"So let's go check out this uniform."

Nodoka showed Steve the way to her bedroom and pulled a box from the back of the closet. She handed the box over to Steve and Steve opened the lid. Inside the box was a girl's school uniform, which the main colors being orange, white, and tan. Steve pulled the shirt out and held it to herself. Steve saw that it would probably fit her, so she went and took off her ruined shirt and put on the uniform shirt. Steve then realized that she had changed clothes right in front of Nodoka.

"I'm sorry." Steve said apologetically.

"That's all right dear. If you don't have a problem with changing in front of me, then I don't have a problem." Nodoka replied.

"Uh, okay." Steve said.

So Steve then got out of her pants and then put the skirt on, with help from Nodoka. Steve then adjusted the uniform and found that it fit pretty well. Steve looked at herself and smiled at what she saw. She looked over towards Nodoka to thank her, but stopped before she said anything. She noticed that Nodoka was smiling and had a look in her eye that Steve had only seen once before.

"Thank you mother." Steve said happily and then gave Nodoka a hug. This surprised Nodoka that she just stared at Steve.

"What did you do that for?" Nodoka asked after Steve stepped back.

"Well, it looked like you needed it." Steve said, but Nodoka looked at her in confusion. "You had the same look in your eyes that my mother had when she gave a special item to my sister. Plus I think you've been alone for too long."

"You are correct, I've been lonely these ten years, and when you wore that uniform, it felt like I was giving my daughter a piece of my life." Nodoka said.

"That is why I did it. You needed it."

"But why did you call me 'mother'?"

"Uh ... would you believe that I wanted to?"

"But why?"

"Well, I've been calling my best friends mother 'mom' for several years now, she was like a second mother to me. So when I saw the look in your eyes, it just felt right."

"That's nice of you." Nodoka said and then gave Steve a hug, which Steve returned just as warmly.

"Could you help me with something?" Steve asked.

"What is it?" Nodoka asked.

"In order to play the role of 'Talia', could you teach me how to act in a skirt?"

"Sure."

"Thanks ... mom."

Nodoka smiled at Steve and then started showing Steve what to do. After an hour of training, Steve thanked Nodoka, but told her she had to get back to the Tendo Dojo. Nodoka thanked Steve for keeping her company for a while and told Steve that she could keep the uniform and to visit once in a while. Steve thanked her again and collected her things, placing her old clothes in a bag and headed back to the Dojo.

xxxxx

She arrived at the Dojo and announced that she was back. She heard everyone was in the living room, so she headed there. When she entered the living room, those that were in there were surprised at what Steve was wearing.

"Hey, Stack, why are you dressed in a girl's uniform?" Ranma asked as Steve came into the living room. "What happened after I left?"

"It's a long story Red." Steve said with a shrug. "But most of it's your fault."

"My fault?" Ranma said in surprise. "What did I do?"

"You only kicked Kuno's buckets away." Steve said in a reasonable tone. "Unfortunately for me, I was in the way and didn't dodge fast enough."

"Did anyone see the change?" Ranma asked in horror, wondering how he would explain this to whoever saw it.

"No, luckily no one saw." Steve said with a sigh. "But before I could change, one of the teachers caught me in the hall. To make a long story short, I decided to play the role of 'Talia' and said my tutor didn't show, so I wanted to visit my 'sisters'."

"Why did you do that?" Akane asked, coming in at the end of Steve's story.

"It was the only thing I could do on such short notice." Steve replied.

"What happened?" Ranma asked.

"Well, I was given a uniform since they didn't want me walking around in over-sized, wet clothes. They gave me a level of knowledge test that placed me in eleventh grade, due to my weak areas in Japanese knowledge and history. I tried to be place in our class, but it appeared that my sister seemed to have left school for the day." Steve said, looking at Akane.

"So the office decided to have her come to my class." Nabiki said with a glare at Steve, coming into the room, which didn't have much force since she was smiling. "Though, it was fun watching you figure out how you were going to do afternoon PE class."

"I just went along with everyone else in the class." Steve said distractedly, suddenly remembering why she had ran to the Dojo in the first place, before she remembered about those gifts.

"You pervert!" Akane shouted, getting to her feet menacingly.

"Now what?" Steve demanded, moving away from Akane. "What did I say?" She asked as she dodged Akane's punches, sweating when she saw the damage Akane was doing.

"You stayed as a girl just so you could watch the other girls shower, didn't you?" Akane demanded, grabbing a bokken. "I'll beat you so bad; you'll wish you never even notice girls!"

Akane chased Steve around the dojo until she finally caught her in a corner. Before she could beat her with the bokken, the practice blade was torn out of her hands. She turned to glare at Ranma, and then stopped when she heard Steve sigh behind her.

"Akane, the thought never entered my mind." She said patiently. "But you probably won't believe that. Mrs. Tsuchida let me change in the dressing room though, so the other girls wouldn't tease me."

"You weren't around the other girls?" Akane asked in surprise. "What about the shower?" She asked suspiciously.

"Took it in the dressing room." Steve said seriously. "I'm not a pervert who watches girls getting dressed when they don't know I'm watching."

"I don't know if I believe you." Akane said suspiciously.

"I do." Nabiki said with a smile at Steve. "Besides, I trusted him." She walked out under the amazed stares of everyone.

"She trusts you?" Ranma said incredulously. "Is there something going on that we should know about, Stack?"

"I'm just as in the dark about this as you are." Steve said, staring after Nabiki. "But I'm going to find out."

Steve handed Kasumi her old clothes and told her what happened to them and if she could help repair the shirt. Kasumi told her she would do her best and Steve headed up to her room. She got out of the uniform, folded it up and put it away, along with the items for her family. She then went and changed back to male and then walked up to Nabiki's room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Nabiki's voice said cheerfully.

"It's Steve." He said nervously. "Can I come in to talk to you?"

"Certainly." Nabiki said with a laugh. "I'm decent."

Steve swallowed convulsively at the thoughts that statement called to mind, and then opened the door. Nabiki was lying on her bed, doing leg exercises in shorts and a tank top.

"Umm ... what did you mean down there that you trust me?" He asked nervously. "Why do you trust me? You've only even known I existed for a couple weeks."

"There are three reasons I trust you, Stack." Nabiki said, sitting up on the bed. "First, you were honestly surprised at Akane's question, as if you really hadn't thought about it. Second, you don't lie needlessly or to avoid trouble, something I would expect in a sixteen year old, but not in a mid-twenty year old."

"Thanks, I think." Steve said, his expression still a little confused. "What was the third reason?"

"If you ever tried to pull anything like Akane was afraid of, I'd hit you with a bucket of hot water so fast, you'd never see it coming." Nabiki said in a tone that made her threat a promise. "After that, I think you'd survive maybe thirty seconds."

"If that." Steve agreed with a shiver. "Now I have even less desire to do that than I did before."

"Good, then I won't need to worry, will I?" Nabiki said with a grin. "Thanks for the help in class; by the way, Mr. Yamagi is terrible if you're not paying attention."

"He reminds me of Dr. Van Ghent, my organic chemistry professor at the college I went to." Steve said, laughing at the memory. "He was this old South African guy who expected you to respect him because he was older. Anyone who didn't pay attention found out that the old guy had a perfect aim with pieces of chalk."

"He would throw them at you?" Nabiki asked, trying to imagine some of her older teacher's doing that, and failing.

"Absolutely." Steve laughed.

"Now that you mention chemistry, I remember that I have homework due in all of my classes." Nabiki said. "If Talia wants to study with me, she can." Nabiki laughed at Steve's annoyed expression, and then looked at him questioningly.

"It's just that I just realized what I've set myself up for." He grumbled. "I'm going to be spending most of my days as Talia. I'm going to be spending half my life as a girl, more importantly, as your sister. I'm going to have to wear girl's clothes at times, hell; I may even start having to worry about periods. My sister would love this."

"Your sister?" Nabiki asked in surprised.

"Yeah, I have a sister who's about eight years younger than I am." Steve said, and then laughed. "Who am I kidding; we're about the same age now. Though, how I'm going to explain that one, I have no clue."

"What do you mean?" Nabiki asked interested.

"I mean, how do you explain to your parents that you appear eight years younger? It would probably be better to fake my own death."

"Easier said than done, at least here in Japan." Nabiki said seriously. "Every reported death is investigated very closely here, and if they find out it was faked, they make you pay for their wasted time."

"Ouch, I definitely can't afford that." He said with a wince. "I never thought I'd actually say this, but let's do our homework. It has to be easier than thinking about my problems."

Nabiki laughed in agreement and they started doing their work after Steve changed forms and grabbed his homework. Then Nabiki started asking questions about what happened to him that he came back wearing that uniform. Steve told her all that happened to her in Juuban, leaving out the part about Nodoka finding out about the 'Talia' role and being Ranma's mother, along with the plan to set up in the future. After that, they just continued on their homework.

xxxxx

To Be Continued


	4. Part Four

1This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

by

Stacko

Edited by Lord Dragonbane

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Part Four

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

NEXT DAY

During breakfast the next day, Nabiki had asked Steve about the girl he had seen yesterday. Steve started coughing on the drink he was drinking, when he realized that he had totally forgotten about the girl, due to all the excitement that happened to him after he left school. Everyone else wondered what was going on. Once Steve got his coughing under control, he told everyone that he saw an old acquaintance from China. When Ranma asked who that was, Steve just said one word.

"Xian Pu." Steve said, causing Ranma and Genma to pale, which Nabiki noticed.

"Shampoo?" Akane asked confused. "What does a hair care product have to do with anything?"

"Not shampoo, Xian Pu ..." Steve stopped talking and sighed. "I guess her name is close to that."

"What does she have to do with you three?" Nabiki asked. Ranma looked over at Steve and Steve sighed when he realized that he would have to explain.

"She tried to kill us." Steve said finally.

"What!" Everyone else exclaimed.

"Why did she try and do that?" Akane asked.

"A matter of honor, and leave it at that." Steve replied.

From the look Steve was giving, he wasn't going to give anything more. So everyone finished breakfast and Nabiki, Akane, Ranma, and Steve left for school. It was an uneventful day at school; nothing really kept Steve from thinking about Shampoo. He almost got detention from not paying attention in class, but he was lucky that he knew the answer to the question the teacher asked. After school ended, Steve told Ranma and Akane that he was going for a walk to clear his head. They told him to be careful and that they would see him at dinner.

As Steve was walking, he stopped in a convenience store to get something to drink. As he was walking, a small group of kids came skateboarding by him, causing him to spill his drink on himself, triggering the change. She sighed in relief when she noticed no one saw the change. She collected herself and realized that she wasn't going to figure out what to do if she ran into Shampoo again. So she decided to head back to the Tendo Dojo to go have dinner.

As she was walking down the street, she passed an alley way and she was grabbed and pulled into it. When she stopped at the wall, she thought that the boys were back to mistaking her again and decided to try talking to them again, but when she looked up, she saw a sword pointing at her face. She thought that the boys were getting real serious on wanting to get back at her, but when she looked at the person holding the sword, she was in for a surprise, because the person holding the sword was Shampoo.

"Xian Pu!" Steve exclaimed in surprise.

"Nihao." Shampoo said calmly.

"Wha ... What brings you here?" Steve asked nervously.

"You."

Steve swallowed nervously as she looked into Shampoo's eyes. Her eyes opened wide as Shampoo lowered the tip if the sword. She watched as Shampoo cut each tie to her shirt off one at a time with the tip of the sword. Once Shampoo had finished cutting off all the ties, Shampoo used her sword to open Steve's shirt, revealing that Steve wasn't wearing anything underneath. Steve looked up at Shampoo and saw the evil looking smile as she brought her sword up above her head.

Steve closed her eyes, waiting for the death blow that was coming. After several moments of nothing happening, Steve slowly opened her eyes and saw that Shampoo's face was smiling only inches from her's. The surprise of seeing Shampoo's face so close caused Steve to flinch backwards and hit the back of her head against the wall behind her.

"Ouch." Steve said wincing in pain while holding the back of her head, and then she heard Shampoo giggle. "This isn't funny, that hurt."

"Shampoo sorry." Shampoo said sincerely.

"Are you going to kill me?" Steve asked wondering.

"No." Shampoo replied as Steve was closing her shirt as best as she could.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Shampoo was told to retrieve Mistress and friend for audience with Elder."

"Oh, okay, but why did you cut my shirt open?" Steve asked and noticed that Shampoo suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Shampoo did it to get even with Stack." Shampoo said looking down.

"I guess that is fair, for what Red and I did to you. You're just lucky that this wasn't my favorite shirt, or else I would have to use my authority as your mistress to punish you." Steve replied smiling and saw Shampoo nod her head in agreement and then she heard her mumble something but couldn't make out what she said. "What did you say?"

"Shampoo also did it to see Stacko." Shampoo replied blushing. Steve also blushed when she caught onto what Shampoo was implying.

"Uh, okay, did you enjoy the view?" Steve asked.

"Yes." Shampoo said quietly.

"Well, next time you want to check me out, you just have to ask, okay?"

"Okay."

"Let's get going before we anger the Elder." Steve said and grabbed Shampoo's hand. Shampoo looked at Steve in confusion and saw Steve smile at her. Shampoo followed Steve back to the Tendo Dojo.

xxxxx

Steve was having a difficult time keeping her shirt closed. After she had left the alley, the wind had started picking up, and with her holding Shampoo's hand in one hand, it caused Steve's shirt to be blown open. After giving several people a good show of her breasts, she held her shirt closed with her other hand. She blushed hotly and heard Shampoo chuckling at her, they continued on their way to the Tendo Dojo. After having Shampoo chuckling at her for a few blocks, Steve glared at her, causing Shampoo to stop chuckling, but Steve could see she was still chuckling on the inside.

When they approached the front gate of the dojo, Steve and Shampoo could hear a female voice yelling complaints of a person being a pervert and a jerk, a few moments later, a splash was heard. Steve groaned when she realized that Ranma had angered Akane again and Shampoo had a confused look to her face. Steve continued on into the dojo and hoped that Ranma wouldn't be too surprised when she saw Shampoo.

"I'm back!" Steve called out when she entered the house.

Steve came in and took her shoes off; Shampoo did the same following Steve's lead. When they reached the living room, they saw Ranma ringing water out of her shirt as best as she could and Akane fuming nearby. When the both of them entered the room, Steve smiled when she saw Ranma freeze in surprise when Ranma noticed Shampoo. Akane then noticed that there were other's in the room and took her attention off of Ranma and turned to face the people in the room.

Akane noticed that the two people that had entered were Steve and some girl with long purple hair, which Akane thought was probably a dye job. What caught Akane's attention right away was Steve's shirt. When Steve had entered and removed her shoes, she had released her hold on her shirt which caused the shirt to open up and have her breasts out on display. When she looked at Steve's eyes and saw the amusement in them. She figured that Steve was showing off her breasts on purpose and got angry again.

"What do you think you're doing?" Akane asked angrily at Steve.

"Huh?" Steve said in confusion when Steve realized that Akane was asking the question to him and not Ranma for a change.

"Walking around exposing yourself like that." Akane said pointing Steve's exposed chest.

"Ah, geez." Steve said when she followed Akane's pointing finger and realized that her shirt was open again and quickly closed her shirt as best as she could and started blushing in embarrassment, much to Shampoo's enjoyment.

"What are you, some kind of exhibitionist?" Akane asked angrily.

"Come on Akane, it's nothing like that." Steve tried explaining herself. Shampoo got angry that Akane was yelling at Steve, so she walked in front of Steve and faced Akane.

"Angry girl threatening Stack?" Shampoo asked Akane, who was caught by surprise by Shampoo's name for her.

"Who you calling 'Angry girl' and what are you going to do about it if I am?" Akane said.

"Shampoo calling Angry girl Angry girl." Shampoo said. "And Shampoo must take care of you then."

Suddenly Shampoo had her two bonbori's and was swinging them at Akane. Akane fell down in surprise and was lucky she did when the bonbori's swung where her head use to be. Steve then grabbed Shampoo around the waist and tried to pull her away from Akane, but the force that Shampoo was using to get at Akane, caused Steve to be dragged along wherever Shampoo went.

Ranma had gotten over the shock of seeing Steve's naked breasts and seeing Shampoo there that she suddenly got defensive when she saw Shampoo start attacking Akane. Ranma saw as Steve tried to stop Shampoo by grabbing her around the waist and kept telling her that it was alright, that she should stop attacking Akane. Akane for the most part had a surprised look to her face as she was crawling away from Shampoo, who was dragging Steve along with her. Ranma didn't want Akane to be beaten up, so she decided to help Steve stop Shampoo by getting in-between her and Akane.

Through all the commotion in the living room, Kasumi had decided to heat up some water for Steve when she heard him in his female form enter the house. When the kettle was heated, she took it off the stove and headed out to the living room to give it to Steve. When she was in the living room, she noticed that they had a guest over and it seemed that Steve and Ranma were trying to stop the guest from beating up Akane. Kasumi headed over to the table and set the kettle on the table for them to use it when they were done playing around. She then headed back to the kitchen to make more of dinner to handle their guest. She also made a mental note to talk to Steve about exposing herself like that in the house. So she started humming a song she liked as she continued on with dinner.

The struggle that Steve and Ranma had with Shampoo was getting more difficult when Akane started arguing and throwing insults at Shampoo, who became more determined to beat the living daylights out of Akane. During the struggle, it brought them closer to the table, where the kettle was waiting, and during one of the wild swings Shampoo did, that her bonbori hit the kettle, sending it up into the air. No one paid attention to it until it started raining warm water over the four of them. The ones that were really surprised by it were Ranma and Steve, as they changed back to their normal forms.

The struggling ended when the kettle landed on the floor and Akane and Shampoo noticed that Ranma and Steve had changed. Shampoo dropped her bonbori in shock as she looked at Steve and Ranma, who were now males. Shampoo knew that the males were Steve and Ranma, but she didn't want to believe it. With Steve's shirt being open, she could verify that the two of them had changed into boys. She nervously reached a hand out and patted Steve's chest as to make sure her eyes weren't playing a trick on her. Steve sighed because he knew that Shampoo's view of the world is starting to crumble down.

"Well, I guess this was one way to tell Shampoo about your curses." Came an old woman's voice nearby. The four of them turned to face the person and saw Nabiki standing next to an old woman balancing on a huge cane. It was Steve that gained his composure first and greeted the old woman.

"Elder Kho lon, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?" Steve asked, bowing as a formal greeting.

"Can't an old woman check up on her favorite two students? Well, I was coming here and this nice woman let me in." Cologne answered and chuckled. Her chuckling grew some when she saw Steve give her a look like he didn't believe her. She then noticed the condition of Steve's shirt and thought to have some fun with him. "Do you always greet people with a shirt that is open like that?"

"Why don't you ask Xian Pu why my shirt is like this? It seemed that she had an interesting way of saying that you guys were here." Steve said and everyone turned to Shampoo who was blushing hotly in embarrassment.

"It seems that you better punish her then." Cologne said.

"I'll be getting around to it." Steve said as he looked at Shampoo and she gulped in fright as what he was going to do to her.

"What is going on?" Nabiki asked, getting everyone's attention. "I thought you said that this girl was out to kill you? But it looks like she is some sort of servant to you?"

"I guess an explanation is in order." Steve said.

"I would think so." Nabiki said irritated.

"Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes." Kasumi said coming out of the kitchen and then she noticed Cologne. "Oh, we have another guest, good thing I made extra then." Kasumi then returned into the kitchen to finish up dinner.

"How about after dinner, and then we can tell everyone at once, since it will take a while to explain it all at once." Steve said to Nabiki.

"Okay, sounds good to me." Nabiki agreed.

"Why Stack and Red male?" Shampoo asked Cologne when she had a chance.

"That will be explained after dinner, Slave." Cologne said with firmness that Nabiki was almost jealous of. When Shampoo heard that, she shied back a ways and realized what her place was.

"Why did you call her 'Slave'?" Akane asked confused.

"Like Kho Lon and I said, it will be explained after dinner, but right now, I would like to change my shirt out for a new one and I think Red would like to change clothes before he changes again." Steve said and noticed Ranma nod slightly in agreement. "While Red and I are doing that, Xian Pu, go and clean the mess that you caused."

Shampoo was about to comment, but the glare from Cologne shut her up and she headed into the Kitchen to ask Kasumi for something to clean the spilt water from the kettle. While Shampoo was doing that, Steve and Ranma headed upstairs to change clothes, leaving a thoroughly confused Akane and an intrigued Nabiki to wait for their return.

xxxxx

The dinner table was some what crowded with Cologne and Shampoo being there while Kasumi served dinner. Throughout the meal, Steve noticed that Shampoo had kept glancing over at him whenever he wasn't looking at her. Cologne had a smile on her face as she watched Ranma and Genma fight over their meal. Akane sat fuming at the display that Ranma and Genma were doing, also she was a little upset at how easily Shampoo made a fool of her. Nabiki was wondering what was up with the old woman and the other girl, while the rest of them was just enjoying the meal. When dinner was over and Kasumi, with Steve's and Shampoo's help, finished the dishes and went to the living room for the big talk that was going to happen.

So when everyone was in the living room, they all sat around so they could see everyone else. Everyone was sitting on chairs except Cologne, Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo. For Cologne, Ranma, and Steve, they were sitting on the couch and Shampoo was sitting on the floor at Steve's feet, much to her reluctance. Once everyone was situated, Nabiki started the talk.

"So what is this all about?" Nabiki asked.

"What do you want to know?" Steve replied.

"First off, this morning, you tell us that this Shampoo character is after you guys in order to kill you, and now we see that she is some sort of servant to you guys. What is up with that?" Nabiki said.

"Well, I think I should do some introductions first before I answer that." Steve said. "This here is Kho Lon, Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons of Jyoketsuzoku."

"Chinese Amazons? There is no such thing." Akane said.

"Just because you never heard of us, doesn't mean we don't exist." Cologne said and smiled when Akane closed her mouth when she couldn't think of anything to say.

"And this here is Xian Pu, and to answer a part of your question Nabiki, according to the laws of her people, she is my slave." Steve said, grabbing Shampoo's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze while continuing his introductions.

"What!" Exclaimed everyone that didn't know the Amazon laws.

"Actually, she's a slave to my female side." Steve replied.

"Like that makes any difference to it." Akane said angrily.

"Okay, but why did you say that she was trying to kill you two?" Nabiki asked and noticed that Cologne had raised an eyebrow when she said that and looked over at Steve.

"Well, it wasn't her precisely, but a certain individual that is after Shampoo."

"Who?" Nabiki asked.

"Hey Stack," Ranma said all of a sudden before anyone could answer Nabiki, which angered her just a little. "I just realized something; Shampoo and Akane have something in common."

"What do you mean by that?" Akane said angrily.

"He means that both you and Xian Pu both have a love-crazed idiot chasing after you." Steve said to Akane to calm her down. "And Red, if I remember correctly, the same idiot that is after Akane, is also after your female form."

"Urk." Ranma froze when he remembered that, which caused Akane to start chuckling at him.

"So who is this person?" Kasumi asked.

"His name is Mu Tsu, or Mousse for those that have trouble with his name. He became infatuated with her after Xian Pu was nice and helped him out on day when they were three. He's been after her since then. So when she became my slave, he didn't take that very well." Steve said.

"What did he do?" Kasumi asked.

"He got it in his head that if I was out of the picture, Shampoo would be his." Steve said.

"Speaking of that guy, he didn't follow you guys here, did he?" Ranma asked.

"No, Mu Tsu has been banned from following us." Cologne said. "But if he does show up, he better not be here for my Great-granddaughter, or he will answer to the Counsel."

"She's your Great-grand daughter, and you have her being a slave to him?" Akane asked surprised, pointing at Steve.

"I think we better start with the story, for I know Xian Pu wants to know why Red and I are male." Steve said and saw Shampoo nod slightly.

"Yes, I think you should." Nabiki said, finally getting to the parts she wanted to hear.

xxxxx

"This story starts about a day after we visited Jusenkyo." Steve said as he started the story and noticed Shampoo become wide-eyed when he said Jusenkyo. "The Jusenkyo guide was nice enough to escort us to a nearby village that he said that they may help us with a cure to our curses. The only downfall was that it had rained early in the day, so we were in our cursed forms and we felt that it would be pointless to try and change back. So when the guide took us to the village, we found out that they were having a tournament going on."

"Here Sirs is Amazon village Jyoketsuzoku. You in luck today is annual tournament." The Jusenkyo Guide said.

Steve and Ranma looked around and saw just a mass of people had surrounded a suspended log, and on the log, were two females fighting each other. Genma seeing that there were nothing but females around, he became bored and looked around. He suddenly came across a picnic table that was loaded with food and suddenly his stomach growled and he made his way to the table and started eating. He was in the train of thought that it was just laying around, so it was fair game.

Ranma had noticed her father moving away and saw where he was headed. When she saw the picnic table of food, her mouth had started to water when she realized how hungry she was. She glanced over at Steve and noticed that she was busy talking to the Guide in English, so she decided to follow her father and partake in the food.

Steve in the meantime was talking to the guide about what was going on. The guide was explaining about how the tournament went, and what it meant to the Amazons. Steve was watching the two girls on the log and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. One of the women on the log, with the guaranty from the guide that it was a woman, she could have sworn was a cross-dressed man. The guide had fun and decided to tease Steve with the other woman, who was wearing skin tight clothing and had long purple hair, which Steve probably thought was a dye job. So when the guide started talking about how the purple-haired one was more to her liking, Steve started blushing. A couple of moments later, the purple-haired one hit the other woman and the other woman went flying. So Steve turned to where she thought Ranma was to ask her what she thought of the fight, but was surprised to see that Ranma wasn't there.

Steve looked around and found both Ranma and Genma sitting at a picnic table that was covered in food, eating it like food was going out of style. Steve couldn't believe that they were still hungry from when they had last ate, but it was then that Steve noticed a sign that was sitting on the other side of the picnic table of Ranma and Genma, and saw that it was in Chinese. So she turned to get the guide's attention to translate for her.

"Hey, Guide, what does that sign say on that picnic over there?" Steve asked once she got the guide's attention. The guide then looked at the picnic table that Steve was pointing at.

"It says first place." The Guide said to Steve in English, since that's what they been talking in for a while now. It was then that he noticed Ranma and Genma at the table, eating the food that was on it. "Uh, what do they think they're doing?"

"Getting into trouble it seems." Steve said and then made her way to where Ranma and Genma were eating. As Steve approached, she could tell that the villager's had finally noticed what Ranma and Genma were doing. So she got behind them and used her walking stick as a club and swung it so it hit the back of both of their heads. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

"Eating." Ranma replied with Genma holding up a sign that said the same thing.

"Is this your food?" Steve asked angrily.

"It was just sitting here unattended, so it was fair game." The sign that Genma held up said.

Steve got fed up at what Genma was saying, and to top it off, they had continued eating despite Steve trying to tell them otherwise. So Steve grabbed her walking stick again and used it to hit them behind the head again to get their attention again. When they had complained about being hit, Steve started chewing them out about taking other people's stuff. Genma tried again with his reasoning, but Steve disputed him with reasoning's of honor, which make Ranma second guess what she was doing. Steve thought she was getting through Ranma when a big mace like item came crashing near Ranma. Steve and Ranma looked at where the mace came from and Steve saw that it was the purple-haired girl that had won the match.

xxxxx

Shampoo had just defeated her warrior sister, Dowel, for the village championship. As her fellow Amazons cheered for her, she felt elated that all her hard work has finally paid off. As she got off the Challenge log, her fellow Amazons came up to her and started congratulating her. As she was about to receive her prize, a fellow Amazon gasped and pointed at the prize table. When Shampoo and the other Amazons looked at the prize table, Shampoo became enraged that an outsider and her pet panda was eating her food that she rightfully won. So she grabbed her bonbori's and headed to the table to teach that outsider not to mess with an Amazon.

As she approached the table in order to teach the outsider her place, she stopped in surprise at what she suddenly saw. A girl that looked younger than the one eating her food came up behind the one eating her food and hit them in the back of the head with what appeared to be a walking stick. She then watched as the girl then started talking to the girl and the panda with what Shampoo could tell to be Japanese, and the little girl appeared to be angry. Then she got another surprise when she saw that the panda hold up a sign, like it was answering the little girl. Shampoo watched as the little girl became angrier at the other girl and panda as they seemed to ignore her and continue eating. Shampoo watched as the little girl took her walking stick and hit the both of them again and started yelling at them again. Shampoo got fed up and decided to stake her claim to the offender of her prize and threw one of her bonbori at a section of the picnic table near the red haired girl, causing the two girl's and the panda to look surprised when the bonbori hit the picnic table. Shampoo smiled and walked over to the red haired girl and pointed her other bonbori at her.

" What do you and your pet panda think you are doing eating my prize? " Shampoo said in Chinese, which cause blank stares from the two girls. She then watched as the little girl turned to the Jusenkyo guide, who Shampoo just noticed was there, and asked him something in a language she didn't recognized.

xxxxx

"What did she say?" Steve asked the guide in English.

"She say why your friend and her pet panda eating her prize." The guide told Steve in English also.

"See; now look at what you and your stomach have done." Steve turned to face Ranma and told Ranma that as she poked Ranma in her stomach, switching back to Japanese.

"What did I do?" Ranma asked confused.

"You and your father just ate that girl's prize for winning the tournament that was going on." Steve replied to Ranma. Before Ranma or Genma could reply, the girl started saying something again and it sounded like she wasn't very happy either. So both Steve and Ranma turned to the guide for translation.

"She say quit ignoring her and what you going to do about what you have done." The guide replied in Japanese so both of them could understand him.

"So you're saying if I challenge the girl and I win, then the food will be mine by right?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, basically." The guide replied.

"Good, then tell her I challenge her for the food." Ranma said.

"You think that is wise?" Steve asked, suddenly concerned about the whole affair for some reason.

"Don't worry, I have it under control." Ranma said smiling. Steve looked at her in concern but didn't say anything else as she watched the guide talk to the purple haired girl.

"She accepts your challenge." The guide said when he finished talking to the girl.

So Ranma and Shampoo hoped on top of the log and faced each other as the rest of the village and Steve, Genma, and the guide watched what was going to happen. Steve looked around and noticed that most of the villager's were cheering for the girl, and she guessed that her name was Shampoo from what the villager's were shouting out, even though Steve thought that was a strange name for a girl. So she watched and hoped that Ranma didn't get them into to much trouble over this.

Steve watched as Ranma and the girl faced off against each other for a moment. Then Shampoo got tired of Ranma just standing there like the fight didn't matter, so she started to charge Ranma. When Shampoo went in for an easy strike to finish the fight, she was surprised that her target wasn't where she swung her bonbori. She then felt a sharp pain at her chin when then she was lifted off the log and fell over the side of it. As she was falling, Shampoo noticed that the girl had ducked under her swing and then kicked her at the chin. Shampoo was too stunned to realize that she lost by only being hit once. She realized that she lost when she landed on the ground near the challenge log.

Shampoo stood up in time to see that Ranma was being declared the winner of the fight. Shampoo couldn't believe that she lost the fight so quickly, much less the rest of the village. As the referee was raising the arm of Ranma to declare her the winner, Shampoo knew what she had to do and made her way over to where Ranma was standing. As she approached Ranma, Ranma was standing there with a confused look on her face as Shampoo walked up to her and placed a kiss on her cheek, which had the entire village gasp in shock. Ranma then placed her hand on her cheek where Shampoo had kissed her with a surprised look to her face.

The Jusenkyo guide saw what happened and he panicked. He grabbed Steve's hand and then ran over and grabbed Ranma's hand and started running out of the village, not being concerned with Genma since he was in his panda form and could take care of himself. Steve and Ranma were being dragged out of the village not knowing what the guide was doing.

"What's going on?" Steve asked in English as she was running, trying to keep up without losing her footing.

"She give 'Kiss of Death' to your friend here. We must escape now." The guide replied in Japanese.

"What do you mean by that?" Steve asked.

"If an outsider female defeats an Amazon, then that Amazon must give 'Kiss of Death' then kill." The guide replied.

"What!" Exclaimed both Ranma and Steve in surprise at what the guide had said.

But before the guide could say anything else, a bunch of Amazons jumped in front of them. The three of them stopped and stared at the Amazons that cut off their escape route. The guide released their hands and they looked around for possible escape routes and finding none. Then they notice Shampoo approach with a sword in her hand and an angry look to her face. Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo looked at each other; mostly it was Ranma and Shampoo looking at each other with Steve looking at the both of them.

"Stack, stand back, this is between her and me." Ranma said getting into a ready stance.

Steve took several steps off to the side so she was in between the two fighters. As Steve was watching, she was thinking how stupid this situation was, and how could she stop it. Steve watched in worry as she saw Shampoo start her charge towards Ranma. Suddenly something inside Steve clicked and Steve jumped into action. She intercepted Shampoo and used her walking stick to trip Shampoo up. When Shampoo landed on the ground, Steve jumped on top of Shampoo and used her walking stick to pin Shampoo to the ground, causing the surrounding Amazons to gasp in surprise.

Ranma watched, getting ready to counterstrike any attack that Shampoo was going to do. Just as Shampoo was starting her strike, Ranma watched as Steve suddenly ran over to Shampoo, using her walking stick to trip Shampoo up. So when Shampoo landed on the ground, she watched as Steve jumped on top of Shampoo and used her walking stick to pin Shampoo down on the ground. It was then that Ranma realized that Steve took the fight out of her hands.

"Hey, Stack, what are you doing? This was my fight." Ranma yelled out.

"Huh?" Steve said suddenly regaining enough sense to realize her surroundings.

"You two must go now, or else you two in trouble." The guide called out.

Steve was still only realizing what was going on when she noticed that she was sitting on the back of Shampoo, holding her walking stick so Shampoo couldn't get up. When Steve heard both Ranma and the guide yelling at her, she hesitated on what to do. Her hesitation was just long enough for one of the Amazon Elders to show up. Steve and Ranma saw an old woman approach them by hoping on a huge cane like staff like it was a pogo stick. The old woman approached and turned to face the guide and said something in Chinese. The guide nodded his head and ran off; she then turned to face Steve.

"Come Child, you can release her now; she will not attack you at the moment." The old woman said in Japanese.

Steve looked at the old woman for a moment and then got up off Shampoo. Shampoo stood up, dusted herself off, grabbed her sword and made her way to stand next to the old woman, glaring at Steve and Ranma. As Shampoo was making her way to the old woman, Ranma made her way to stand next to Steve. So then the two groups stood and faced each other with one group wondering what the other group was going to do.

"I must say, you two have diffidently done some interesting fighting." The old woman said in Japanese.

"I am the best." Ranma boasted.

"So you say." The old woman said and then faced Steve. "What about you child?"

"I've only been training for a couple of months now." Steve said and a few of the people around gasped in surprise.

"Modest I see. So what started this commotion?" The old woman asked.

"Why should we tell you, who are you?" Ranma said.

"I'm sorry; my name is Kho Lon, Matriarch of this village." Cologne said.

"Cologne? What kind of name is that?" Ranma asked confused.

"It's her name, so just leave it Red." Steve said to Ranma.

"You're mature for your age." Cologne said to Steve.

"What can I say; I am when I have to be." Steve said.

"That's true. Now maybe you can tell me what is going on in your own words." Cologne said.

"Well, my friend and I came here hoping that someone here could help us with a problem we have. When we got here, we find out that your people are having a tournament, so we stop and watch. While I was talking to our guide about what was going on, the two bottomless pits saw the food on the picnic table and started eating it. Then from there, I guess, it went downhill from there, with the one standing next to you complaining about the food, which I found out turned out to be the prize to the tournament.

"So Red here challenges the girl for the food and wins the fight. The guide then starts panicking and talking about Kisses of Death and killings, while he was dragging us out of this village. We were then surrounded and Red and that girl face off with each other with Red telling me to stand off to the side. I was thinking about the situation when the next thing I know, I'm on top of the girl with you telling me to get off of her." Steve said when she realized that she was missing some of her memory.

"In the heat of a moment, your body may react faster then the mind can register." Cologne said to Steve when she saw the panicked look and then smiled when she saw that Steve nod her head in acceptance. "To let you two know, if your guide didn't explain it well enough, the 'Kiss of Death' states that if an outsider female defeats a female Amazon, the Amazon must give the 'Kiss of Death' and hunt down the female to the ends of the Earth to kill that person."

"But, but..." Steve started stuttering trying to say what she wanted to.

"What kind of stupid law it that?" Ranma asked in surprised disbelief.

"One that has kept this village strong for many generations." Cologne replied.

"That is just not right." Steve finally got out what she wanted to say.

"That is our way of life. Speaking of fighting, how much experience in the Art have you two had?" Cologne asked.

"My entire life." Ranma said with pride.

"As I said, around four months." Steve replied.

"Four months?" Cologne said with a raised eyebrow while several Amazons murmured to themselves.

"I only started training when I was camping out and came across another camper practicing and asked if he would train me. He started showing me the basics of it until he got lost and I came across Red here, and Red agreed to continue my training." Steve replied.

"I see. For one so young and fresh to the Art, you defeated an Amazon pretty easily." Cologne said.

"What!" Exclaimed Ranma and Steve.

" What! " Exclaimed several Amazons and Shampoo.

xxxxx

Shampoo was surprised that the little girl she dismissed as not being a threat tripped her up and pinned her to the ground when she was trying to kill the red haired girl. When her Great-grandmother showed up, she knew the two girls were going to get it. After the little girl was told by Cologne to release her, she got up and made her way to stand next to Cologne. When she saw that both of the girls were standing next to each other, she smiled inwardly, knowing that Cologne was going to get them easily. Her smiled disappeared when her Great-grandmother just talked to them.

Shampoo knew enough Japanese to get the concept of what was being talked about. She couldn't believe that her Great-grandmother was just making small talk with them. What really got to her was when she found out that the little girl had basically started to learn to fight. When Cologne announced that the little girl had defeated her rather easily, she couldn't keep her surprise in any longer.

" What! " Shampoo exclaimed, realizing several Amazons also said it.

Shampoo suddenly became enraged that her Great-grandmother acknowledged that the little girl had defeated her. She then charged the little girl before anyone could react, with the intent of running the girl through with the sword. She smiled inwardly when she noticed the little girl have a surprised look to her face. What roughly caught Shampoo's attention was that the girl's eye's seemed to have unfocused for a moment before the girl ducked the strike. Shampoo was surprised that the girl was able to react to the strike and dodge out of the way. She then felt a sharp pain at her wrist that was holding the sword, causing her to reflexively release her grip on the sword. When the moment the sword hit the ground, Shampoo felt a sharp pain at her temple before blackness came to her.

xxxxx

The surrounding Amazons gasped as they saw Shampoo charge the little girl. What really got to them was when the girl dodged the strike and used her walking stick to disarm Shampoo and then knock her out cold. All the Amazons stood in shocked surprise as they witnessed what most of them probably considered impossible, except for a few Amazons.

Cologne watched as Shampoo charged the little girl in a rage. Cologne had noticed that the girl's eye's unfocused for an instant before the girl had disarmed Shampoo and knocked her out cold. She then looked at the girl and saw, when Shampoo was out for the count; the girl had a surprised look when she saw that Shampoo was laying out cold at her feet. Cologne also looked at the girl's friend and saw that the red head was staring at her friend in surprise. She then decided to hold a council meeting with the two girls.

"I must say, this day has been full of surprises." Cologne started saying. "If you two would follow me, we have much to discuss."

"Uh, okay." Ranma said when she noticed that Steve wasn't going to say anything for a moment.

Ranma led a dazed Steve as they followed Cologne. Ranma heard Cologne order something to the group of Amazons and saw as two of them went over to Shampoo's body and grabbed her arms and dragged her as they followed Cologne. As they were making their way through the village, Ranma had noticed that the Amazons had caught her father and had placed him in a cage with two guards standing nearby. When Genma had noticed them, he held up a sign saying 'Help Me', which Ranma quickly ignored as they stopped in front of a building. Ranma saw that the two Amazons that were dragging Shampoo just release her so laid on the ground.

"Wait here until called." Cologne said.

"What about her?" Ranma asked, pointing to Shampoo.

"Don't worry about her, those two will make sure she is taken care of until out talk is finished." Cologne explained.

"Oh, okay." Ranma said.

"In the mean time, you might want to make sure your friend is coherent before the talks." Cologne said before she entered the building.

After Cologne entered the building, Ranma turned to Steve and grabbed her shoulder and started shaking Steve. Steve came out of her dazed out look and blinked a couple of times. Steve looked around and realized that she didn't know where she was, but could still tell that she was at the Amazon village yet. When Steve asked Ranma what happened, Ranma started laughing a little and said that she had defeated the girl again, but this time a knockout instead of a pin. Steve looked around and saw that Shampoo was on the ground out cold. After several minutes, the both of them were told to enter the building.

When they entered the building, they were escorted until they were standing in front of eleven old women, with Cologne being in the center of them. The Amazons that had escorted them in, bowed to the old women, and then left the area. Ranma and Steve suddenly became self-conscious as the old women just stared at them. After several minutes, Cologne finally started talking.

"We have several things to discuss, we better get to them." Cologne said.

"What do you want to know?" Steve asked.

"I think your names would be nice to start with." Cologne said.

"I am Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes Martial Arts." Ranma said as he then heard murmuring between the old women.

"We are familiar with that type of martial arts." Cologne said and then faced Steve. "And you are child?"

"Steve Stachowicz." Steve replied.

"Strange name for a girl." Cologne said with a slight smile.

"Uh, well I guess." Steve said blushing a little.

"I remember you saying that you were here to ask us for some help. What is it, if I didn't know by who brought you here?" Cologne asked.

"Uh yes, well, we recently were at Jusenkyo, and the guide there said that your village was our best chance of fixing our curses." Steve replied.

"What are your curses?" Cologne asked.

"You're looking at them." Ranma said before Steve could say any thing. There were many gasps from the old women when Ranma had said that.

"So both of you are really males?" Cologne asked.

"Yes and the panda is Red's father." Steve said.

"I see. This definitely puts a complication to this situation." Cologne said solemnly.

"What situation?" Ranma asked.

"We will explain that in a moment, but to answer your question about your curses." Cologne said in which caused Ranma to stop her reply and listened carefully. "The magic of Jusenkyo is strong. There have been no known cures for it; we only have temporary cures that don't last long."

"Oh." Steve and Ranma said, both looked chest fallen.

"We apologize for not being anymore helpful." Cologne said.

"Thanks anyway, just another chapter in the book of my life." Steve said with a smile that seemed a little forced.

"What's this situation?" Ranma asked when the silence got to her.

"The certain situation both of you has with a certain Amazon." Cologne said.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked confused.

"Both of you have defeated her, and one of you has defeated her twice." Cologne said.

"Wh... what about that 'Kiss of Death' rule?" Steve asked nervously.

"Well, for you Ranma, the law is on hold until the other law is annulled." Cologne said.

"What other law?" Ranma asked, happy that the death law is no longer over her head but nervous of the new law.

"The law of Slavery." Cologne replied.

"What's that?" Steve asked.

"Since you have defeated her twice, with witnesses, without giving the 'Kiss of Death' for the first time, she is now your slave." Cologne replied.

"What!" Steve exclaimed surprised, especially when she realized that now she has a slave.

"We have no need for a weak Amazon, so we give that Amazon away." Cologne said.

"So what do I do with her?" Steve asked, confused about the whole situation.

"You can do anything with or do to her as you so desire." Cologne said.

"Is there anything I can do to undo that?" Steve asked, causing several eyes of the old women to open wide in surprise. "We came here to ask a question, not screw someone's life over." That caused several of the women to start talking loudly in Chinese.

"Are you really sure you want to do this." Cologne said after the talking died down a bit. "Most people would take the slave, not fight for its freedom. If you release her, the 'Kiss of Death' on your friend will be reinstated."

"So it's either have a slave and save Red's life, or release the slave and fear when she is going to kill her." Steve said.

"Basically." Cologne said.

"Are you sure there isn't anything we can do to undo this whole mess?" Steve asked and the old women started talking again.

"There is one thing you two may want to try, but the consequences of failing would not be good." Cologne said.

"What is it?" Steve asked suddenly nervous.

"That the two of you would be willing to take a test of sorts. You pass the test, we can work something out, fail it and you two would either be the slaves, or dead."

"That's it?" Steve asked.

"Yes." Cologne said.

"Well, Red, what do you think?" Steve asked Ranma.

"If it's the only thing and you're willing to go through with it, I say let's go for it." Ranma replied.

"Okay." Steve said and then faced the Elders. "We will go through the test you have."

"Very well, then if you two will wait outside, I will escort you two to where you will sleep for the night, once I have finished talking to my fellow Elders." Cologne said

"Okay." Both Steve and Ranma said as they bowed and left the room to wait outside for Cologne to take them to where they were going to be staying for the night.

"Are you sure about this test, much less of them passing it." One of the Elders asked Cologne.

"They both hold promise." Cologne replied.

"Are you sure about that Steve person? He only has a few months of training." Another Elder asked.

"There is something about the both of them I can sense; I know they will both be fine." Cologne said.

Cologne then left the room and went outside to find Ranma and Steve waiting for her. As she approached them, she looked over and saw that Shampoo was conscious; sitting on her knees with the two Amazon's standing over her, with a hopeful look to her face. Cologne then frowned at her and the hope in Shampoo's eyes fell and she lowered her head to look at the ground in shame. Cologne looked up and saw that Ranma and Steve had a confused look to their faces.

"Shall we go now?" Cologne said.

Both of them nodded their heads and watched as Cologne dismissed the two guards. They started following Cologne to where she wanted them to be at. As they were walking, Steve kept glancing behind them and checked out Shampoo. She saw that Shampoo was walking with them with her head lowered. Steve felt sorry for her for putting her in the situation that was now going on. Steve then started thinking what would happen to Shampoo now that her world was taken from her.

"Here we are." Cologne said, knocking Steve out of her thinking.

Steve and Ranma looked at the place in front of them and realized it was probably the second biggest building in the whole village. Cologne smiled at their shocked looks and showed them in, making Shampoo stay outside. When they were inside, Cologne explained that the house they were in was for the Matriarch. After Cologne showed them around, she left them in a bedroom for the night with instructions for them.

"This will be your two's room." Cologne said.

"Whose room was this? It still seems to be in use?" Steve asked.

"It use to belong to your slave." Cologne said.

"Oh, but why did you say used to?" Steve asked.

"Since she is now a slave, everything that she owned now belongs to you." Cologne said smiling at Steve's shocked face. "Also you will keep everything when you pass the test."

"Oh." Steve said still in shock, looking around the room.

"Speaking of the test, you two better get some sleep, the test begins early tomorrow." Cologne said.

"Okay." Ranma said also looking around the room.

As Cologne left the room, Steve and Ranma looked around the room more carefully. They saw everything that Shampoo owned and stuff that she held dearly. After the quick look around, they settled on the bed. They saw how small the bed was, it was big enough for one person to sleep comfortably, but for two, it was just big enough if they were quite friendly. They looked at each other for a bit and then shrugged. Steve started removing her pants so she was only dressed in boxers and a shirt, and Ranma just stayed in her Gi. Ranma took the side of the bed that was nearest to the wall as Steve took the other side.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Ranma asked Steve after a while.

"I don't want to mess a girl's life because of your stomach and some laws I didn't know about." Steve replied.

"So what do you think they are going to do?"

"I don't know, But Cologne said that the test was early in the morning, so we better get some sleep." Steve laid there for a moment when she could some how sense what Ranma really wanted to know. "But that don't mean we shouldn't be prepared for them. Remember, Ranma Saotome never loses."

"Yeah, you're right." Ranma said smiling and then the both of them settled in and fell asleep.

xxxxx

Steve awoke in the middle of the night because of an urge to go to the bathroom. When she opened her eyes, she suddenly blushed hotly when she saw where she was laying. She realized that during the night, she had rolled over and was using Ranma as a pillow. She noticed that Ranma had not moved at all, that it was her that had moved around. So she carefully moved off Ranma and got out of bed.

"Sumthin' wrong, Stack?" Asked a sleepy Ranma, causing Steve to jump in surprise.

"No, I just need to use the bathroom." Steve replied.

"Okay." Ranma said and when Steve looked at Ranma again, Ranma had fallen asleep again.

Steve looked at Ranma in surprised confusion until the urge to use the bathroom reminded her of why she woke up in the first place. She left the room and went to use the bathroom. When she was done with the bathroom, she was heading back to the bedroom when she glanced out side and noticed that it was starting to rain. She was about to enter the bedroom when she remembered about Shampoo being outside.

Steve made her way outside and found Shampoo curled into a ball, leaning against the house to get out of the rain. Steve noticed that she was shivering because of the cold wet wind. Not wanting her to get sick because of the rain, she made her way to where Shampoo was, trying to stay out of the rain as best as she could. As she neared Shampoo, Shampoo heard her and looked up. Steve looked at her and could tell she had been crying recently. As Steve approached her, and stood in front of her, Shampoo lowered her head.

Steve then grabbed Shampoo's arm and had her stand up, in which Shampoo reluctantly did so. After Shampoo stood up, Steve then grabbed her hand and started leading her back to the house. When Steve entered the house, Shampoo realized where Steve was heading and she remembered the rules of slaves and stopped walking abruptly, causing Steve to stumble at the sudden stop. Steve looked back at Shampoo in confusion and pulled on Shampoo's arm to get her moving, but Shampoo refused to enter the house.

"I don't know if you can understand me, but it's all right, come on." Steve said to Shampoo.

"Shampoo understand Mistress." Shampoo said quietly, surprising Steve.

"If you can understand me, why didn't you talk before now?"

"Shampoo know only little."

"Oh, don't feel bad, I'm still learning this language also. Japanese is not my primary one."

"Shampoo understand."

"So why won't you enter?"

"Is law." Shampoo said. "Slave can not enter house."

"You are to follow your Mistress' orders correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm ordering you to enter the house with me." Steve saw Shampoo still hesitate. "If you're wondering about the Elder, I'll take the heat since you will be following my orders."

So Steve grabbed Shampoo's hand again and pulled her into the house. Shampoo followed Steve reluctantly until they were in the bedroom Cologne said they could use. When Shampoo realized where they were, she became chest fallen when she realized that all her stuff was no longer hers, so she stood at the spot where Steve released her hand. She watched as Steve went over to her dresser and pulled out a shirt and pants and then handed them to her. Steve told her to change clothes while she went to get some make shift bedding.

When Steve returned with a pillow and a blanket, she noticed that Shampoo was dressed in the new clothes waiting for her. Steve handed Shampoo the blanket and pillow and told her to sleep on the floor. When Shampoo looked at Steve in surprise, Steve explained what she was doing. She told Shampoo that she wasn't going to have any slave of hers get sick on her because she left them in the rain when they didn't do anything wrong. So Shampoo laid on the floor as Steve went back to bed.

As Shampoo lay on the floor, she occasionally glanced up at Steve's sleeping face, thinking of her situation. Shampoo was glad that Steve was her Mistress, because she had seen some of her fellow Amazon's become slaves and their Mistress' were very harsh on them. She was glad that Steve didn't appear to be like them, so she smiled and fell asleep.

xxxxx

Steve felt a tapping on her shoulder that woke her up. She opened her eyes and found herself laying on Ranma again, but this time she had an arm wrapped over Ranma. She then felt the tapping on her shoulder again, so she turned over to see Cologne standing by the bed looking at her.

"It's time for you two to wake up. The test will begin after you two had breakfast, and breakfast is in ten minutes." Cologne said.

"Okay, thanks." Steve replied still sleepy.

"What is she doing in here?" Cologne said with resentment, pointing at Shampoo.

"It was raining outside and I didn't want her to get sick and be useless to me." Steve replied.

"Very well, I accept your reason. Breakfast will be ready shortly." Cologne said. She then hopped out of the room and Steve looked down at Shampoo and saw her looking at her with a surprised expression. Steve then smiled at her warmly.

"I told you it would be all right." Steve said to Shampoo and she just nodded her head. Steve then turned to the sleeping Ranma and started to shake her shoulder. "Hey Red, time to wake up." Ranma just groggily mumbled stuff, which confused Steve when Ranma woke up easily last night. "Come on Red, breakfast is shortly."

Ranma quickly sat up, surprising Steve a bit too lean back, causing her to fall out of the bed. Shampoo quickly rushed over to help Steve stand when Steve landed on the floor. Once Steve was standing, she realized that Shampoo was still holding her. She looked down and saw Shampoo's hands cupping her breasts, so she then looked upped at Shampoo.

"Um, Shampoo, I'm standing, you can release me now." Steve said and Shampoo removed her hands. "Thanks."

"What's she doing in here?" Ranma asked.

"I brought her in to get out of the rain." Steve replied.

"Oh, I was wondering why she was there when I noticed her when I was woken up." Ranma said.

"When was that?" Steve asked.

"When you decided to use me as a pillow for the second time." Ranma replied.

"Uh, I wouldn't say it was on purpose. Sorry about that." Steve said, blushing hotly.

"No problem, anyway, you said something about breakfast?" Ranma said.

"Yeah, Cologne's waiting for us. After breakfast, the test begins." Steve said.

"Okay." Ranma said as she left the room for breakfast. Steve then pulled her pants on and followed Ranma. Shampoo looked down at her hands for a moment and then smiled to herself before she followed Steve out.

When they entered the dining room, Ranma and Steve sat at the table while Shampoo knelt on the floor behind Steve. Ranma and Steve ate a quick breakfast of fruit and some bread with some fruit juice. While they were eating, Steve noticed that Shampoo wasn't eating, that she was looking at the food hungrily. So Steve grabbed a slice of bread and passed it to Shampoo. Shampoo looked confused at the slice for a moment before she then quickly took the slice and ate it quickly. When they were done eating, two Amazon guards showed up to escort them to the beginning of the test.

The two Amazons blind folded Ranma and Steve, after much complaint from Ranma, Cologne explained that it is for the purpose of the test that they don't know the route back. After the blindfolds were in place, the both of them were escorted to the starting point. Once the both of them left with their Amazon escort, Cologne turned to Shampoo.

"It's time for you to get ready for your part." Cologne said.

"Yes, Elder." Shampoo said and then the both of them left the building.

xxxxx

Ranma and Steve were being escorted for a while. They could tell that they were being lead through forests, plains, over bridges, and other places. After what seemed to be over an hour of walking, they were told to remove their blindfolds. After blinking several times due to the sudden bright light and looked around. They saw the two Amazon escorts standing off to the side, with one of the village Elders standing in front of them.

"I am Lo Shin. I will tell you what the test will be about." Said Lo Shin.

"Okay." Replied Ranma and Steve.

"This test is simple; you have until sun down to reach a finish point marked by a staff looking like this one." Lo Shin said, pointing to the staff she was holding. "To inform you, this is a test to the death or capture, in which both of you must avoid either one. Both of you must reach the peninsula that is the finish point alive, so no sacrifices for the other to make it. It is just going to be you two versus several groups of Amazon hunting parties and any traps that they have made."

"How are we going to know we are going in the right direction?" Steve asked.

"The path will have markers to remind you of the direction in which you must go." Lo Shin replied.

"So we just gotta reach the end before we get killed or captured, right?" Ranma asked.

"That is correct, for if you are captured, you will become slaves. The route begins that way down the path, so you better hurry, times a wasting." Lo Shin said. "I hope both of you make it."

Steve and Ranma looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and started down the path, failing to see the Amazons smiling at them.

xxxxx

They ran down the path for a half an hour before Steve needed to take a break. While Steve was trying to catch her breath, she asked Ranma what they were going to do, while Ranma was on look out for any ambushers. Ranma didn't know except to get to the end and pass the test so they could get the Amazons off their backs. Steve asked if doing this was really a good idea to do. Ranma thought for a moment and told her that either way the Amazons were going to try and kill them, just this way they had a chance of annulling any death treat they had created.

"Well, let's get going before they come upon us." Steve said after she caught her breath.

After hurrying down the path for a couple of minutes, they came upon a big clearing. Right before they entered the clearing, Steve grabbed Ranma's arm, stopping her in her tracks. Before Ranma could complain about being stopped abruptly, she noticed Steve telling her to be quiet with a finger over her lips. Ranma quickly picked up the meaning and quickly surveyed their area. After not finding any thing, she looked at Steve in confusion. Steve bent down and placed her finger gently on a string that was two steps away from Ranma. Ranma realized that is was a trip wire to a trap.

Steve pushed Ranma back a bit and grabbed a nearby tree branch. She then tossed the branch so it landed on the wire. The moment the stick landed on the wire, two logs came swinging by and both of them realized that if they had tripped the trap by walking over it, then they would be dead by being hit by the two logs, or at least severely injured. Steve then told Ranma that they probably set traps last night, so there was probably several more along the way, especially along the path. Ranma nodded in agreement and they decided to go around the clearing, being very cautious of any traps that they might encounter.

Being careful along the way through the forest, they only came across three more traps. The thing that got to them was that the traps were becoming more deadly and harder to spot. The last trap that they came across had used vines to set the trap off in which Steve was the one that set it off by looking any more trip wires. When Steve tripped over the vines, a pit opened in front of the vines, and Steve started falling into the pit. It was only Ranma's quick reflexes that saved Steve when Ranma grabbed Steve's right arm.

Steve was grateful that Ranma was able to save her, especially when she looked down and saw a bunch of wooden spikes at the bottom of the pit. Ranma pulled Steve up and Steve thanked Ranma once her heart rate slowed down, in which Ranma said to Steve thankfully that Steve was now in a lighter body, Steve couldn't agree more with that statement.

When they realized that the traps were changing, they decided to head toward the path and hope the traps would end soon. They found the path easily enough, and started following it off to the side of the path, while keeping an eye out for any more danger. By this time, Steve came across a decent sized stick to use as a walking stick and to use it to help detect any more traps that they might come across.

They walked down the side of the path some when Ranma suddenly stopped and grabbed the back of Steve's shirt to stop her. Steve turned to look at Ranma questionably when she noticed Ranma get into a ready stance. Steve whipped around just as five Amazons jumped out of the trees and bushes and started attacking.

Ranma went and started defending against three of the Amazons that started attacking, while the other two went after Steve. The Amazons that were attacking Ranma were hard pressed to over come her. Ranma was dodging and weaving around all the attacks that the Amazons were throwing, which angered the three Amazons because they weren't hitting their target. Ranma went on the offensive when she heard a scream of pain from Steve which caused her to glance over at Steve and saw that she was on the ground, in the fetal position, holding her left side. Ranma realized that the ones Steve was fighting hit her ribs that were injured from when she had hit her.

The distraction gave the Amazons a chance to hit Ranma, but Ranma's danger sense warned her of the attack and was able to move out of the way, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the Amazon from cutting through the sash of her Gi, causing her Gi to open up and reveal that she wasn't wearing anything underneath it. When Ranma did quick sides glance over at Steve, she noticed that the two Amazons that were fighting Steve, were going for a death blow, so Ranma then started attacking the three she was facing.

With the distraction of Ranma's bouncing breasts, the three Amazons froze just long enough for Ranma to knock two of them out cold with punches and use the third one as an item to throw into the two attacking Steve. Ranma quickly followed through with her throw so when the two got back up, Ranma quickly rendered them out cold. Ranma did a quick survey and smiled when she saw that all their attackers were out cold, she then went over to check on Steve.

"Hey Stack, you okay?" Ranma asked in concern.

"Except for reaggravting my bruised ribs, I'm fine. Thanks for the save." Steve said to Ranma, not noticing the way Ranma was dressed at the moment.

"No problem." Ranma smiled, and then went and helped Steve to stand up, who hisses in pain, but stood up without much trouble, except favoring her left side. It was then that Steve noticed the condition of Ranma's Gi and started blushing at the sight she was seeing.

"Um, Red, what happened to the sash of your Gi?" Steve managed to say without stuttering.

"Your scream of pain distracted me enough that one of them was able to cut my sash off." Ranma replied not knowing what Steve's problem was.

"Well, as much as I'm enjoying the view, how about closing your top until I find a new sash for you." Steve said.

"Huh?" Ranma was confused at what Steve was saying and looked down at her top and saw her breasts hanging out in plain view. "Oh." Ranma quickly closed her top and held it shut in her hand; she then looked at a smiling Steve. "Pervert."

"Hey, I'm not the one advertising." Steve said smiling at a fuming Ranma.

Steve then managed to walk over to one of the unconscious Amazons and removed a red silk sash from her and handed over to Ranma. Ranma started complaining about wearing women's clothes when Steve pointed out it was either the sash or go around holding the Gi shut. Ranma grumbled about the situation but reluctantly grabbed the sash and tied it around her to hold the Gi top shut. While Ranma was tying the sash around her, she noticed that Steve was going around each of the girls and started taking things from them. When Ranma asked about it, Steve mentioned that she wasn't going to go unprepared during the next fight and was taking some things to help out.

Ranma took a look at the things that Steve was collecting and saw that it was a couple bundles of rope, a couple of knives, some trail mix of some sort, and a bow staff from one of the Amazons. When Steve loaded herself with all the gear, Ranma saw that Steve could barely stand due to all the weight being pressed on her sore ribs. Ranma knew that Steve had something planned; she just hoped that Steve was able to pull it off. When Ranma saw Steve stumble for the third time in also the same amount of seconds, Ranma went over and scooped Steve into her arms. Steve gave a startled gasp when Ranma picked her up and just looked at Ranma in confused surprise.

"I figured we better get going before they wake up or reinforcements arrive. But with you being injured and deciding to carry all that stuff, I figured I would help you out." Ranma said.

"Oh, thanks." Steve said and then gasped again when Ranma started running through the forest.

As Ranma was running through the forest, Steve held onto all her things that she had collected, and pulled herself into a tight ball to help be less of a drag on Ranma's running. After running for several minutes, Ranma had stopped running and set Steve down so she could catch her breath. When Ranma was catching her breath, Steve did a quick look around and saw that they had traveled a great distance for such a short amount of time. So once Ranma had rested enough, she asked Steve if she was ready to get going again, in which Steve told Ranma to rest for a little bit longer.

"Hey Red, you're not upset about me using you as a pillow?" Steve asked.

"If you don't start doing that when you are in your guy form, I won't have a problem, just don't get to frisky on me." Ranma said.

"Hey!" Steve exclaimed.

"Got you." Ranma said smiling at Steve's expression.

"Fine, you got me on that one." Steve said and looked up towards the sky at the position of the sun. "Well, I guess we better get going, the sun is setting soon. I can't believe we've been wondering around this forest for most of the day."

"That is what I think part of this stupid test is about; to see how fast we can finish it. It practically seems just a test of speed while trying to avoid time delays." Ranma said.

"I guess so." Steve said and then past some of the trail mix to Ranma. "Here, when we finish with this lets get going."

"Okay." Ranma said and started eating the trail mix.

When they finished eating what they had of the trail mix, Ranma gathered Steve in her arms again and started running again. After running for a bit, they came across a path and they realized that it was the path that they were suppose to be traveling on. After following the trail for a bit, they came to a top of a hill, in which Ranma pushed Steve off to the side. After Steve commented on being shoved about, Ranma pointed to the bottom of the hill.

Steve looked down and saw that the bottom of the hill opened to a river gorge. The path down that they were going to follow ended up to a rope bridge wide enough to fit one person. The gorge was wide enough that trying to jump it would be out of the question. But the thing that caught Steve's attention and the reason that Ranma pushed them out her out of the way was that surrounding the bridge on both ends was a group of twenty Amazons. Steve glanced over at Ranma and saw that Ranma was thinking of a way to cross the gorge without having to deal with all the Amazons. Steve started thinking of ways but couldn't think of anything to help their situation. Steve then glanced down river and suddenly started thinking of an idea that came to her.

When an idea came to Steve's mind, Steve got Ranma's attention and signaled for Ranma to follow her. Ranma had a confused look but saw that Steve had an idea and followed her as she made her way along the gorge. After several minutes of walking along the gorge, Steve stopped at a point and looked around. Steve saw that they were far enough away from the bridge so the Amazons that were there wouldn't see them, and it was the first section of the gorge that was narrow enough to do what Steve was thinking. When they stopped, Ranma asked Steve what she was thinking in which Steve started explaining the idea she had.

Steve explained to Ranma that she was thinking of creating a rope bridge of their own. Ranma looked confused at the idea and Steve then explained that Steve was going to have Ranma throw a knife tied to the rope to the other side and use the rope to cross the gorge. Ranma then got what Steve was saying and thought through the idea and reasoned that it was a good idea. It would help them cross the gorge and it was done away from the Amazons so they wouldn't see them going across the gorge, so Ranma agreed to help out.

So Steve then grabbed the rope she had and tied both of the ropes together and one end of the rope to a knife. Steve then handed the rope over to Ranma and Ranma then tested the rope and started guessing how she should throw the rope. She looked on the other side of the gorge and saw a sturdy enough tree to throw the rope at. Ranma then gripped the rope and started swinging the rope and then threw it towards the tree. Both of them watched as the knife sailed across the gorge and wrap itself around a thick branch the knife stuck into the tree. Steve looked at what happened in surprise as Ranma was tying the other end of the rope off on their side.

"How'd you do that?" Steve asked Ranma in surprise as Ranma was tying of the other end of the rope.

"'Cause I'm that damn good." Ranma said smiling to Steve when she finished tying off the rope.

"Uh, sure." Steve said and decided to drop the subject because she knew she wasn't going to understand it anyway.

Once they had made sure that the rope would hold their weight, they started crossing the gorge. Once they got to the other side of the gorge, Ranma had to help Steve get across from the half way point because Steve was getting tired and sore from trying to cross the rope. But once they were on the other side, Steve laid on the ground and thanked what every God was listening for letting her make it across. Ranma just chuckled and told Steve how out of shape she was if she got tired from crossing the gorge, Steve just told Ranma that she wasn't as active as Ranma when she was young.

Ranma told Steve that time was running out and they still had to back track to find the path that would take them to the finish line. Steve reluctantly got back up and griped the only thing she had left from the group of Amazons, which was the Bo staff, to help her stand up. Ranma was there to help steady Steve whenever Steve stumbled. They had made their way back to the point that they could notice the Amazons at the bridge. So they made sure they didn't make any noise and took the long way around the group of Amazons and made it to a point they found the path again. Once they found the path, they kept an eye open for any Amazons and continued down the path.

After several minutes of walking, they came across what appeared to be the end of the path, for it ended in a big clearing. Once they got there, they looked around and saw that at one side of the clearing was at a plateau and it was a drop off for a long ways down. They backed up a little ways and wondered what they were suppose to do, they both figured this is where they were suppose to be for the end of the test, as far as they could tell, but both of them had this feeling that there was one more thing that was going to happen. Just as they both thought that thought, they heard a rustle of leaves and when they turned towards that direction, a figure jumped out of the bushes.

When the figure landed in front of them, the both of them noticed that the figure was Shampoo, and she had an apologetic look to her face as she held a sword at them. Once Ranma and Steve got over their shock of seeing Shampoo, they reacted in time to dodge her initial attack at them. When Steve got back to her feet, she tried to find out what was going on and try and reason with Shampoo. Shampoo told Steve she was sorry for what she was doing said that she must do what she was doing. Once she finished talking, she started attacking again.

Shampoo knew that the more dangerous one to fight with was Ranma, so she centered her attacks on Ranma, but didn't totally ignore Steve this time. Ranma mainly was just dodging her attacks as Shampoo kept striking with her sword. Ranma had glanced over at Steve and saw a look that Steve had in her face that Ranma didn't like, because she realized what the look meant. The look meant that Steve knew the final stage of the test was to prove Shampoo didn't lose on accident that Shampoo was fighting to kill the both of them or die trying. With talking to Steve last night about the situation, Ranma didn't want to mess with someone's life and she finally realized that it was her stomach that had gotten her in this situation to begin with. Also Ranma saw this look in Steve's eyes that made Ranma think of a way to finish the fight before anyone was killed.

Ranma smiled inwardly at the thought that Steve had created feelings for the girl she was presently dodging the strikes from. She started thinking of a way to end this fight so that no one would have to be killed. An idea popped in her head and decided to go for it, the only thing that the idea would cause if it failed was someone's death. So when Shampoo did a strike towards Ranma, Ranma reversed the attack which caused Shampoo to be thrown towards the cliffs edge. Shampoo was able to stop herself before she slid off the edge. Steve stared in shock as she saw Ranma toss Shampoo towards the edge and sighed in relief as she stopped herself before she went over. No one noticed the sigh of relief that Ranma did as the attack she did didn't toss Shampoo over the side. She then watched as Shampoo stood back up on her feet.

Steve and Ranma watched as Shampoo stood back up and got into a ready stance and got ready to attack again. Suddenly a noise was heard and the ground beneath Shampoo's feet suddenly gave out of under her. As she fell down, she dropped her sword and was able to grab the edge but the ground was too loose and her hand holds were crumbling in her grip, causing her to slide down the edge. When the ground started to give under Shampoo, Steve was in motion to try and catch her, so when Shampoo was sliding off the edge, Steve did a flying leap to catch Shampoo's arm as she was slipping off the edge, so Steve was laying on the ground, holding Shampoo's arm as she was hanging over the cliff's edge.

Ranma seeing what was happening, rush towards Steve to help her out before the ground gave out again. Ranma grabbed the back of Steve's pants and used it to help leverage Steve so Ranma can help them up. Ranma was pulling Steve back which was helping pull Shampoo back up. Once Shampoo was over the cliff's edge, she was able to help pull herself up and when they were far enough away from the edge of the cliff, the realization of what just happened dawned on Shampoo and she saw that Steve was next to her wondering if she was alright. Shampoo realized that Steve was concerned for her, which she couldn't understand because she was there to kill them, but Steve had risked her life to save Shampoo's and the realization of everything else, Shampoo just busted into tears.

Shampoo wrapped her arms around Steve and just started crying on Steve's shoulder. When Shampoo started crying and grabbed onto Steve, Steve just wrapped her arms around Shampoo and just rocked her as she continued crying and was mumbling things in Chinese. After a minute of Shampoo's crying, they heard another rustle of leaves and turned to face the noise. Ranma and Steve saw Cologne with two Amazons enter the clearing and looked around. When Cologne rested her look on the three of them, she sighed and started talking.

"Congratulations, you have passed the test." Cologne said.

"What was this about?" Steve asked. "Why was Xian pu trying to kill us again?"

"If you will follow me, we will explain everything to the both of you." Cologne said and then turned around and started hopping away but stopped suddenly. "Also, bring your slave with you." And then continued hopping away from the clearing.

Ranma and Steve looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders. Shampoo in the meantime had stopped crying when Cologne entered the clearing and stood up and stood behind Steve with a lowered head. Steve stood up and both of them started following the two Amazons toward the trail back to the village, with Shampoo following behind them all. Steve and Ranma were surprised at how close the village was to where they just were at; in fact, they could see the cliff's edge when they had entered the village. While en route to wherever they were going, Ranma had noticed that Genma was still in his panda form and was still in the cage, with some bamboo shoots in the cage. After a few minutes of walking more, they stopped in front of the council building. The Amazons showed Steve and Ranma in as Shampoo stayed out side.

Once inside the council room, Ranma and Steve were facing the Elders and was wondering what was going to happen. After several minutes of the Elder's talking to each other in Chinese, Cologne then turned to face the both of them.

"I guess you two want to know what is going to happen." Cologne said.

"It would be nice." Ranma said.

"Very well." Cologne said nodding her head. "As part of our agreement of you passing the test, these are the terms we have come up with and hope you will approve of them."

"Go ahead." Steve said.

"By passing the test, we have made the both of you members of the Amazon tribe, but only in your female forms. If you will let me finish before interrupting me, all will be explained." Cologne started saying when she saw Ranma was about to argue with her. Ranma decided to let Cologne explain before she started complaining. "As I was saying, as for the rest of the village, they just think that what you went through was just a test to become members of the tribe. So as I said, it is only in your female forms that we will recognize you as members of the tribe. But just in case either of you are splashed with warm water; the story the two of you will say is that you both were splashed with heated Jusenkyo water.

"Any threats upon you before this meeting is now no more, you have a clean slate as far as we are concerned, but we will expect you to honor our laws for as long as you are in China. So what we are asking is if the both of you are willing, we will teach you some of our arts to you if you are willing to stay for a minimum of two weeks with us, so we can also teach you what the laws of our people are. Do the two of you find this acceptable?"

"Why was Xian pu trying to kill us at that clearing?" Steve asked.

"It was her last chance to prove herself an Amazon rather then a slave and she failed. Do you find our terms acceptable?" Cologne replied.

Both Ranma and Steve looked at each other and they could practically know what the other was thinking and they both thought that it was going to be the best that they could get for what has happened. So the both of them agreed to stay two weeks to allow them what the elders had in store for the two latest members of the tribe. Once the agreement was made, Steve realized that they hadn't talked about the reason Steve had suggested the test in the first place, and that was to free Shampoo from her slavery.

"What about Xian pu and her slavery?" Steve asked.

"I will speak with you in private about that." Cologne said and looked at her fellow Elders.

The other Elders nodded their head in respect and left the room by a side door. Steve had turned to Ranma and told her to wait outside for her to return. Ranma nodded since she knew that whatever was said was going to involve Steve and Shampoo's future. Ranma left and after a few moments, Steve turned towards Cologne and waited for her to speak on the matter that Steve had asked about.

"So you want Xian pu freed from our slavery law." Cologne said.

"Yes I do." Steve said.

"We have agreed to your terms and have freed her from our slavery law."

"But why is she still outside as a slave?"

"It is the reason I wanted to talk to you in private. I have seen how you have treated her in the past day. You have brought her in from the rain before she could catch a cold, gave her some of your food in which she should not have been as honored to have, and when she was trying to kill the both of you in that clearing, you both risk your life to save her from death. So even if she was not a slave, she now owes the both of you a blood debt of honor. Before I ramble on to much, to let you know, Xian pu is my great-granddaughter and I am glad you have treated her well these past two days, with the exception of the time at the tournament."

"She's your granddaughter?" Steve said surprised as Cologne nodded her head in agreement.

"So speaking of such, since you have fought for her freedom, it lies on her family to decide if they want her back with them or find her a disgrace and make her stay as a slave."

"So my fighting for her was for nothing?"

"No, it was for something, it was to prove you were sincere in what you wanted. Because of that, I have a request to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"As you know, I am the Matriarch of this here village, which would make my great-granddaughter my heir to that position, but I fear that because of her skill in the arts, it has made her not stable to take the position. My request is for you to play along with the idea of her still being your slave in order for her to learn some humility. Once I figured she has learned enough humility, I will announce to the rest of the village that her slavery is over and she is an Amazon warrior again."

"So basically you want me to have her be a slave so she can see the views of the other side of the world so she doesn't react too harshly to certain circumstances?"

"That is basically what I was saying."

"I guess I have no choice about this, so I accept your request."

"I thank you for willingly take care of her and not be the harsh master to a slave that has been seen here, but I want you not to tell anyone about Xian pu's situation until I deem it necessary to tell."

"Your welcome I guess and I promise not to tell anyone about this."

"Here you go and have fun with her for a while." Cologne said as she handed Steve a leash and collar. "When you are done having her show the two of you around the village, the place where you stayed at will be your two's room for the next two weeks."

"Okay. But what's with the leash and collar?"

"The first step in teaching her humility begins with it." Cologne said smiling.

So Steve walked out of the building and saw Ranma standing off to the side waiting and Shampoo nearby looking a little defeated. Steve felt sorry for what she was about to do and walked over to Shampoo and held out the collar to Shampoo. Ranma was confused at what was going on as she saw Shampoo look surprised at the collar but reluctantly placed the collar around her neck and Steve fasten a leash to the collar. Steve then walked over to Ranma while bring Shampoo behind her by the leash.

Ranma had asked what went on and Steve explained that the Elders found Shampoo unworthy to be released from the slavery law. Ranma nodded at Steve and Steve told Ranma that the Elders told him that they should have Shampoo show us around the village so we could become familiar with it for training to start tomorrow. Steve also told Ranma that they had the same room to sleep in while they stayed in the village. So Steve had Shampoo start showing them around and inwardly winced as she saw the other Amazons laugh at Shampoo as she was being lead by a leash as she showed Ranma and her around the village. Once the tour was finish, they went to the room and went to bed to get well rested before the training began in the morning. While Steve and Ranma slept on the bed again, Steve had Shampoo sleep on the floor in the room.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

To Be Continued


	5. Part Five

1This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

by

Stacko

Edited by Lord Dragonbane

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Part Five

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"So for the next two weeks, the Amazons had taught us the laws of their village and started teaching us some fighting tricks. I really don't know about Red, but they had told me that I had some inept potential to use the staff, so they started teaching me the ways of fighting with the staff." Steve said as he was finishing the tale. "At the end of the two weeks, Genma was persistent enough to get us to agree that we needed to get back to Japan to finish some 'Family Business'. So I told Cologne to keep Shampoo in the village; and I would be back to get her when I got a chance to get back to China. Needless to say, the 'Family Business' turned out to be about the Tendo/Saotome uniting and we all know where it went from there."

The Tendo's sat there in shocked silence at what Steve and the other's just said to them. They had just heard that Steve had acquired a Chinese Amazon slave that technically wasn't really a slave. The Tendo's each had their own opinions about the matter that was told to them, with Shampoo thinking about her own reasons at what she had just found out. It was Akane that was the first of the Tendo's to get their voice back.

"You would make your own grandchild a slave?" Akane said in surprise.

"It was the laws of our people; I couldn't do anything about, even if she wasn't my great-granddaughter." Cologne replied.

Shampoo got fed up at what was going to be said and got off the floor and ran outside. Everyone was surprised at the sudden movement that Shampoo had done. Kasumi was about to get up and go after Shampoo when Steve told her that he would go after her. Kasumi looked over at him and he explained that he had an idea what she was upset about and he glanced over at Cologne. Cologne nodded her head in understanding and Kasumi relented when she realized what Steve was talking about and let him go and talk to Shampoo.

Steve left the living room and walked towards the direction he saw Shampoo run off to. He realized that he didn't have to search too hard for her, her crying made it easy to locate her. He followed her crying sound and found Shampoo sitting on the ground with her arms wrapped around her legs, rocking back and forth while she cried. When Steve approached her, Shampoo looked up suddenly and looked at Steve, while quickly wiping away her tears.

"Are you alright Shampoo?" Steve asked.

"Shampoo alright." Shampoo said but Steve could tell that she wasn't.

"Can I sit here?" Steve asked.

"Shampoo don't care." Shampoo replied as Steve then sat down near her.

"I tried everything I could think of to get you out of that slavery law, but Kho lon told me to keep playing your master." Steve said.

"Shampoo know, heard Stack story."

"I don't know if it will mean anything to you, but I'm sorry for what happened. I really didn't want anything like what happened to happen. I'm also sorry I'm not really the person you thought I was." Steve said to Shampoo as a way of an apology.

When Shampoo didn't say anything, he looked down at the ground trying to think up of anything else to say to Shampoo. When he gave up trying to think up of anything, he decided to let Shampoo gather her thoughts by herself and was going to get up and leave when he felt a hand on his arm stopping him. He looked at the hand and then looked over at Shampoo and noticed a new batch of tears rolling down her cheeks. He sat back down and waited for Shampoo to make the next move, because he really didn't know what to do at that moment.

"If Shampoo was going to be slave, Shampoo glad Shampoo had Stack as Mistress or Master." Shampoo said after a long silence. "Shampoo had seen a couple of Amazons be punished under the slavery law and the masters that they had were very abusive and mean to them. Shampoo just glad that Stack wasn't like that, tried to treat Shampoo nicely when had every right to be mean to."

"I'm glad that I wasn't like that, I just couldn't bring myself to do that to you. I'm just sorry that I couldn't get you out of being a slave from the beginning." Steve replied.

"Shampoo know, and Shampoo understand why great-grandmother kept Shampoo a slave. After hearing great-grandmother's reason's, Shampoo thought back on life and saw that Shampoo was as Shampoo heard recently. Shampoo had nose stuck in air and was only concerned about Shampoo and not anyone around Shampoo."

"Sorry about how it had to be done."

"Shampoo understand, but Shampoo still getting use to fact that Mistress is really Master."

"Yeah, well, according to the Elders, Red and I are seen as females now with male cures, since everything we did was in our female forms."

"So what Stack going to do now with Shampoo?"

"How about we start over?"

"Start over?"

"Hi, my name is Steve Stachowicz, want to be friends?" Steve said and held out one of his hands. Shampoo looked down at his hand and then at him for a bit. Then a smile slowly appeared on her face and she then reached out and took Steve's hand.

"Xian pu of Jyoketsuzoku Chinese Amazons." Shampoo replied. "Shampoo accept Stacko as friend."

"Glad to meet you Xian pu. It's good to see you smile, you look nice when you smile." Steve said.

"Stop it, Stacko embarrassing Shampoo." Shampoo said blushing as she lightly punched Steve in the shoulder.

"I didn't mean too." Steve said rubbing the spot where Shampoo hit him.

"Shampoo never really had any friends when growing up, male or female." Shampoo said a little sadly. "The males just wanted into Shampoo's pants or married to Shampoo. The females were just rivals for village champion. Shampoo glad to have real friend, even if friend is Shampoo's mistress or master."

"Well, I think Kho lon was going to say your slavery is over, but to be technical here, you are Talia's slave, not mine." Steve said confusing Shampoo.

"Talia, who she?" Shampoo asked confused.

"The name we came up with for my female form." Steve replied.

"How that come about?"

"Well, I guess I should tell you what's been going on since I left the village."

Steve then proceeded to tell Shampoo what had happened to Ranma and himself when they left the village. He told her everything from when they found out about Ranma's engagements to the first day of school. He told her how a slip of the tongue of Akane has his female form playing the adopted forth sister to when he met his first sensei again and found out about his fox curse. He even went and told her how he was glad when he was able to visit his uncle and his family. Shampoo sat there smiling at some parts and had gotten angry at a few of them, but overall she found the story enjoying, and Steve found her giggling at the end of his story.

"Stacko's life hilarious." Shampoo said giggling.

"Oh ha ha, laugh it up." Steve said and then saw Shampoo thinking up of something. "What you thinking about?"

"What you think about Shampoo slavery?"

"It was something I didn't want to happen. Why are you asking?"

"Shampoo want to keep slavery going." Shampoo said quietly.

"What! Why?" Steve asked in surprised confusion.

"Because of this." Shampoo said and then leaned in to Steve and started whispering in his ear.

What Steve was hearing from Shampoo surprised him. He had figured that she would be willing to get out of her slavery, but what she was telling him was the complete opposite. She was telling him how her entire life she was forced to do things to support her family line and with her being the heir to the Matriarch seat of the village. He was surprised at how Shampoo was secretly glad that she had lost to Ranma and him, and was hoping that they had succeeded on escaping so she could follow them. She was a little upset that they didn't escape and found out that she was defeated twice, but was glad that it was Steve that had defeated her.

She was a little nervous to find out that she was going to be subjected to the slavery law and was worried on how Steve was going to treat her. It was that first night that showed Shampoo that she need not worry on being mistreated, when Steve had pulled her inside to stay out of the rain and fed her some breakfast that Steve really didn't need to do. So Shampoo had figured during the test that she would put up a good fight, but purposely lose. The ground giving out from under her wasn't planned, but was very glad that Steve was able to save her life. It was at that point that Shampoo knew that she wanted to stay with Steve and willingly be his slave.

When they had explained the story of what the test really was for, Shampoo was shocked that Steve was willing to give his life to give hers back. What caused Shampoo to run out of the room, it was not because she was upset that they had fought to save her honor, but to find out that her technical freedom from having to deal with her life at the village was at an end. She really didn't care that her fellow Amazon sisters were teasing her about her being champion one moment and slave the next. What Shampoo wanted now was to stay a slave so she didn't have to deal with the life that her great-grandmother wanted of her. She had talked her great-grandmother into finding where they were and help train them, also so that she could get out of the village and be with her mistress, in which she found out was really her master.

Shampoo also explained on how she started falling for Steve's female form. She had said that when she was younger, she had fallen in love with another female Amazon. Because the person was somewhat ill, she couldn't handle being a warrior, so she became a healer. Because of her gentle nature had caught the interest of Shampoo, she started seeing her as much as she could. It was Mousse that had first found out about their love affair that he used it against them so he could get closer to Shampoo. When Shampoo refused to love Mousse, he went to attack her lover, and when she was injured from one of Mousse's attacks, Shampoo went and beat him to an inch of his life. The injury to her lover had proved fatal and she had died in Shampoo's arms. Shampoo cried for days but was forced to forget about her so she could concentrate on her training. It was when Shampoo was treated to Steve's kindness that she realized that she was falling in love with Steve's female form, because Steve's female form reminded Shampoo of her past lover.

After Steve had heard her reasoning, Steve sat back and looked at Shampoo to process what he had just heard. He saw Shampoo looking at him with worry and some hope he could notice. From what Steve could tell, Shampoo was tried of her life in the Amazon village and from what he could tell, she didn't want to dishonor her family in the process. He could tell that in the short time that Shampoo was out of her village, she was having a blast in what could be like a new world to her. He sighed at what he figured out she was asking and knew that he was going to help her out.

"Are you willing to tell Kho lon that you want to stay a slave for a while longer?" Steve asked.

"Yes." Shampoo said.

"Then we better get going and tell her, because I know the other's are probably wondering what is keeping us." Steve said as he got up and started heading back inside. "Besides, I still have to get you back for what you did to my shirt earlier today." Steve had his back towards Shampoo when he heard some rustling of clothing and figured Shampoo was getting up to follow him.

"We even now?" Steve heard Shampoo ask. He turned and saw Shampoo kneeling on the ground and had pulled her shirt over her breasts so that she was baring them for him to see in their bare glory. He stared at them in surprise as Shampoo giggled at his expression. "Well?"

"Uh ... sure." Steve managed to say at what Shampoo had done. Shampoo smiled evilly as she lowered her shirt and then lead a shocked Steve back inside the house.

Once they got back into the living room, the usual questions were asked of everything okay with them, in which Steve and Shampoo replied that they had to work some things out and it took a while to do. So they were asked if they had everything taken care of, which they replied that they had. Akane then asked Steve why he seemed so flushed, and Steve replied that Shampoo had paid back for ruining his shirt. They could only guess by what he meant since he wasn't going to explain what Shampoo had done.

When it seemed that there wasn't going to be anymore questions, Steve turned to face Cologne and asked her what she was going to do about Shampoo. Cologne said that if he so choose, Shampoo can be released from her slavery and reinstated as a warrior again. Steve asked if Shampoo was going to kill Ranma if he released her. Cologne said that since Ranma was now an Amazon, the 'Kiss of Death' no longer applies. Steve looked over at Shampoo and then turned back to Cologne and said that he wants Shampoo to be a slave for a little longer.

After the gasps of surprise was over, Cologne asked why he wants to keep Shampoo a slave for longer when he was fighting for her freedom. Steve replied that it wasn't fully his choice on the matter. Cologne looked at him and then over at Shampoo, who was hanging her head down, and then looked over at Steve again saying she understood what he meant. Steve then told Cologne that Shampoo was really the slave to his female form anyway. Cologne said she knows about the 'Talia' situation from everyone else there while he was talking to Shampoo. Cologne said she would be glad to help Nabiki in handling any problems that came up that they needed to cover, like adding that Talia had acquired a slave recently.

Steve thanked her and then asked why they decided to come to Japan. Cologne asked what was wrong with her checking on her two most promising students. Steve gave her a look saying that he didn't fully believe her and she chuckled, and then said that she was here to continue their training and to give Shampoo a view of the outside world. In doing so, she had bought a place that she was going to turn into a restaurant. So she was asking if Steve was willing to help out, with a reasonable paycheck when the restaurant opens up.

Steve agreed quickly and asked if Ranma was going to help out. Cologne said that she hadn't asked yet since she was waiting for Steve to return before she brought it up. So Steve turned to Ranma and asked if he was going to help out at the restaurant. Ranma replied that he wasn't going to be wearing a skirt, and Steve asked did he ask about wearing a skirt. Ranma realized that Steve didn't ask about wearing a skirt just was wondering about helping out at a restaurant. Steve could feel what was confusing Ranma and pulled him off to the side to talk to him privately.

Steve asked Ranma what was wrong and Ranma replied he was unused to going to work, that the way his father taught him was something against working. Steve then told Ranma that if he could help out, one, he would be doing something of his own that would prove his father's teachings wrong, and two, it would help him get Nabiki off his case. It was mainly the second reason that pushed Ranma into accepting the offer to help out. The only thing that Ranma didn't want to do was wear a skirt, which Steve replied that if Ranma had to work in his female form, that they could probably find pants for her to wear. Ranma thought it was better than nothing and they both accepted to work at the restaurant. Cologne said that if they weren't doing anything else that night, that they could come over and see the restaurant and help out with some of the clean up, both Ranma and Steve agreed to do, with Nabiki wanting to check it out, which then caused all the rest to want to check the restaurant out.

After they had got to the restaurant, they saw that Cologne had called the restaurant 'Nekohaten'. Cologne explained that it was Shampoo's idea that gave her the idea for the name. The only person that had trouble with the name was Ranma, and Steve was the only one in the group that fully knew why. After they entered the building, Cologne had Shampoo give everyone a quick tour and explained what Cologne had planed for the building. When the tour was over, Genma and Soun left the building because they didn't want to help out in the clean up. Kasumi left so she could finish cleaning the Tendo Dojo before she went to bed. Akane left because she had some homework she had to finish. Nabiki had a talk with Cologne about possible ideas that Nabiki had, Cologne told her that she would talk with her later about it.

In the meantime, Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo were cleaning out the main room were the dining room was going to be. They were sweeping, taking out trash, washing the walls and floors, and started bringing in boxes of tables and chairs. While Shampoo and Ranma were putting some of the tables and chairs together, Cologne and Steve were talking about Shampoo's future. Steve explained on how Shampoo wanted a little freedom from her Amazon upbringing for a while, so Steve came up with Shampoo going to school to help with understanding the outside world. Cologne agreed with him and left so she could pick up a uniform for Shampoo to wear.

While Shampoo and Ranma were finishing the tables and chairs they were going to do for the night, Steve was taking trash bags out to the dumpster. While Steve was throwing the bags into the dumpster, he heard a noise nearby. He looked over and was surprised at what he saw. He saw a bluish black fox hiding behind trash cans, and the fox had a curious look to it and was a little nervous to come out. Steve walked back into the restaurant and grabbed a little of the snacks that Cologne left and went over to the fox. Steve offered the food to the fox, but the fox didn't want to leave its spot, so Steve set the food down and went back in to help Ranma and Shampoo to finish what they were doing.

After Steve left the fox alone, the fox came out of its hiding spot and walked over to the food and started eating it. After it was done eating, another fox walked over to it.

"How is everything going?" Helios asked.

"I think I'm going to like Saria's male host." Polyarch replied.

"What do you mean?" Helios asked.

"Just a feeling I'm getting."

"Plus he gave you food for no reason."

"That too."

"So how is everything going?"

"Everything's going according to plan. We just need the enemy to start their plans."

"Then we are still at a waiting game."

"Yep, let's go before Saria's host comes back out again."

"Okay." Helios said and the both of them left to join the others.

x x x x x

In the meantime, in Juuban, the Senshi found another monster attack in a park. When the Senshi got there, the monster turned out to be another humanoid creature. This one was about eight feet tall, a bird-like appearance, but instead of feathers, it had black fur. It had a bird-like head that had seemed more reptilian than bird. Its feet were like a bird but its hands were reptilian. The monster was tearing the park apart when the Senshi realized it was there.

The only problem was when the Senshi got there; Sailor Moon was with her parents and had to trick them to let her go. The Senshi didn't know that and the Nanocites in the other Senshi was causing them to think that Sailor Moon was blowing them off. As the Senshi was fighting the monster, they realized how quick the monster was when it kept avoiding most of their attacks. The monster was having a fun time being able to give some hits to the Senshi before they were able to hit it. It was when Sailor Moon arrived that Sailor Mercury was able to figure out what they needed to do. Mercury yelled out that they had to hit it all at once.

All of the Senshi powered up their attacks and launched them at once at the monster. The monster was unable to dodge all the attacks and got hit enough times to stun it enough so the Senshi could power up another rounds of attacks. The second round of attacks all centered on the monster and caused the monster to disintegrate. Once the monster was fully gone, Sailor Moon, Saturn, and Chibi-moon celebrated the defeat of the monster. When Sailor Moon tried to get the other Senshi to join in the celebration, she quickly noticed the angry looks on her fellow Senshi.

When Sailor Moon asked the others what was wrong, it seemed like a door was opened and the others started laying into Moon. They kept yelling at her at how she was always late to everything, how they couldn't count on her to be any help, and how much of a crybaby and a klutz she was. After Moon started having tears running down her cheeks, each of the Senshi started giving a reason why they hated her. When the last one said their peace, Sailor Moon ran off crying.

Saturn and Chibi-moon couldn't believe how mean the other Senshi were being when they were yelling at Sailor Moon. When Sailor Moon ran off crying, they decided to ignore the others when they had called for them and ran after Sailor Moon to try and comfort her, since it seemed it was only going to be the two of them that is going to care for her. When the others watched Saturn and Chibi-moon run off after calling for them, they were a little upset that the two of them ignored them and just shrugged their shoulders. When the police sirens were heard, they decided to stop thinking about the matter and ran off before the law could get there.

x x x x x

NEXT DAY

Steve woke up and became slightly nervous at the unfamiliar room. Then he remembered that he had moved into the Neko-hatten and that he was in his room at the place. He remembered having a talk with Cologne about Shampoo going to school and that today was going to be her first day. He was glad that Cologne had allowed him to sleep in due to having to get to school early to register Shampoo.

Speaking of Shampoo, Steve wondered where she was, and then it was then that he sensed that someone was near him. He did a quick look around and found Shampoo kneeling at the foot of his futon with a smile to her face. He also noticed that she was only wearing one of his t-shirts and since the t-shirt was big on her, she was wearing it as a nightshirt, but the t-shirt was small in the chest area on her and it showed that she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Nihao." Said Shampoo cheerfully.

"Morning Shampoo, how long have you been there?" Steve asked.

"A while." Shampoo replied.

"Why?"

"Shampoo wanted to watch Stack sleep." Shampoo said and Steve looked at her.

"There's something else, isn't there?" Steve asked. Shampoo smiled at him and then started to crawl up the futon, over Steve until she was eye to eye with him. Steve swallowed nervously as he felt Shampoo rub her body on him as she crawled up.

"Hai, but that for Shampoo to know and Stack to find out." Shampoo said and Stack stared at her nervously as Shampoo smiled mischiefly. Suddenly Shampoo collapsed on Steve and started laughing which confused Steve. "Stack look funny." She said when she could get her breath back.

"Oh, ha ha, don't you have to go to school today." Steve said when Shampoo started to stop laughing.

"Hai, want to take bath with Shampoo?" Shampoo asked as she held herself up with her arms, giving Steve a good look down the collar of the t-shirt.

"Ah, I better not; you better get ready for school."

"Stack miss out." Shampoo said as she got off of Steve.

"I know I'll regret it later." Steve said.

Shampoo smiled over her shoulder at Steve before she left the room. Steve then sighed after Shampoo left as he couldn't believe what Shampoo did, but chuckled at the humor of what happened. He then got ready to go to school, and waited until Shampoo was out of the bath be fore he entered. After he was done, he had a quick breakfast and waited for Shampoo to come down.

When she did, Steve almost choked on the drink he was drinking. Shampoo was dressed in the normal school uniform, but the uniform bordered being out of regulation. The shirt and jacket was almost skin tight and the skirt looked like a mini instead of its normal length. When Steve had mentioned that to her, she replied that the uniform was still in regulation. Steve dropped it to let the school worry about it, and then the both of them left to Furinkan to register Shampoo to the school.

x x x x x

Ranma and Akane were running to school to face the usual crowd, but when they got there, there wasn't anyone there. They stopped in confusion and looked around. The only people they saw were the ones entering school and Kuno lying unconscious on the ground. They walked over to Kuno and looked him over. It appeared that he was unconscious because it looked like he was run over by several people. They shrugged their shoulders and walked to their classroom.

When they entered the classroom, they found Steve sitting in his seat. When they approached him, he was surprised that the both of them were in the classroom so early. Ranma and Akane asked him if he knew what happened to the crowd outside. Steve replied he didn't know since he had just entered the room a minute before them from helping Shampoo check into the school. So Ranma and Akane took their seats and waited for the teacher to arrive. The teacher entered several minutes later and informed the class that they have a new student. Shampoo entered the room and started to introduce herself. Many students gasped at her uniform, with the boys leering and drooling and the girls being envious of her looks. The school day in the morning went without a problem and at lunch time, Ranma, Akane, Steve, and Shampoo sat under a tree to eat their lunches.

They were soon joined by some of Akane's friends and other girls. When they were asked what they were doing there, they replied that they wanted to get to know Shampoo.

"What you want to know of Shampoo?" Shampoo asked the girls.

"Tell us about yourself, like why you are here." One of the girls asked.

"Well, Shampoo from China, and is Amazon of the Jyoketsuzoku." Shampoo replied.

"You're an Amazon?" Another girl asked surprised.

"Was village champion until recently." Shampoo replied.

"What happened?"

"Shampoo lost in a challenge."

"What was the challenge?"

"An Amazon test that Shampoo failed."

"What happened to you?"

"Shampoo became a slave."

"What!?" Exclaimed several of the girls.

"How could that happen to you?" One of the girls asked.

"Is law of village, Shampoo is now slave."

"Why?"

"Village don't need weak Amazons."

"Who are you a slave of?"

"Talia Tendo."

"What?!" Exclaimed the girls and then one of them turned to Akane. "Akane, your sister has her as a slave?"

"Afraid so, we found out about it recently." Akane replied.

"What are you doing in school then?" A girl asked.

"Mistress wanted Shampoo to be smarter, so sent Shampoo to school." Shampoo said.

So Shampoo started telling the girls her life and Amazon laws. By the end of lunch, the girls were amazed at Shampoo's life, even though she was still a slave. By the end of the school day, rumors were spreading throughout school about Shampoo's slavery. Shampoo didn't care about the rumors since some of them were funny to hear. Shampoo had met Kuno when he came charging at Ranma about enslaving another female. It took Shampoo, Nabiki, and Akane to convince Kuno that Ranma hadn't enslaved another female, it was Talia who was her mistress. Other than that, Shampoo's first day of school was uneventful.

x x x x x

LATER AT NIGHT IN JUUBAN

Another monster attack was going on and this time it was only one monster and it looked like a humanoid lizard with a scorpion tail. The problem was that the monster was very agile and was dodging all of their attacks, it started to get the Senshi frustrated and their temper started rising. Then all of a sudden, the ones that were hit by the ray started to get a sharp pain in their head, and that is when the problem started.

"How do we defeat this thing?" Mars said angrily.

"My scans show that it is very easily to defeat we just have to hit it." Mercury said.

"Let's distract it and hopefully Moon can hit it." Uranus said.

"Distract it to the left and I'll fire at it." Moon said.

So the Senshi started to launch their attacks to get the monster into position. When the monster was in position, Moon fired off her attack but the problem was that Mars ran into the path of the attack. Moon quickly pulled her attack so Mars wouldn't get hit, but Mars was angry that Moon was attacking her and not the monster. After the monster moved away, they had to try again but it resulted in the same effect with a Senshi or two would be in Moon's attack path. After it happened a couple more times, the Senshi were getting angry that Moon was attacking them and not the monster. It was a lucky shot from Saturn that the monster was killed.

When they made sure the monster was fully dead, the Senshi started to lay into Moon. All the Senshi, with the exception of Saturn and Chibi-moon, were saying that she was attacking them on purpose. Moon kept denying that she was doing that but the Senshi kept saying that she was a menace. They started saying that they couldn't trust her since that she was never on time and never paid attention to their meetings, always eating or reading manga. Each thing they said was like stabbing Moon in the heart. The final blow was from Mercury saying that she was a danger to her friends and the people around. Hurt, Moon ran away from them crying. Saturn and Chibi-moon were going to follow her but were stopped by the others.

"Let her go." Jupiter said to Chibi-moon.

"Come Saturn, we're going home." Neptune and Uranus took Saturn with them.

"You can stay at my place." Mars said and took Chibi-moon with her, but both Saturn and Chibi-moon were worried about Moon.

x x x x x

Usagi was still crying as she ran home. Along the way she had changed out of her Sailor Moon outfit into her normal clothes. She was hurt that her friends could be so mean to her. As she was making her way home, she decided to see Mamoru and hoped that he could cheer her up. By the time she made it home, she was able to stop crying just in case her parents were home. When she got to the door, she realized that her family was gone for the moment, which she was glad since she didn't want them to see how hurt she was, it was then that she saw an envelope with her name on it. She picked it up as she entered the house. She then opened the envelope and saw a letter that was from Mamoru in it, so she started reading it.

Usagi,

It pains me to write this, but I feel that in light of recent events I must. I find that I can no longer pursue any form of relationship with you now or at any time in the future. Some would say that the fault for this must lie with me, but in all truthfulness I can no longer bear the sight of you. Not only are you immature, but your very immaturity is a danger to those around you. Why the Kami saw fit to grant the power that you possess to such a selfish and headstrong girl, I will never know. I can only hope that somehow the danger you pose to all of humanity will be averted, for I do not see you ever becoming worthy of that power.

Mamoru

When she finished reading the letter, she was entirely devastated. Her last hope turned on her and she realized that no one wanted her around. She came to a decision to stop being a burden to everyone and started to write a letter to everyone to 'apologize' for being a burden and being so dangerous to everyone around. She left the letter on the kitchen table and left the house to a nearby bridge.

When she was at the bridge, she was glad that no one was around so there would be no one to stop her. She was in a zombie like trance as she climbed the bridge to get ready to jump off. As she was standing there looking down at the water below, she was having an internal monologue about how everyone turned on her and no one cared for her, so it was better for her to be out of everyone's life. Just then a little voice in her head reminded her of one person that cared for her.

That stopped her for a moment when she started to think of the one person that called her cousin and how worried he was when that monster attacked. She also remembered the plush rabbit he gave her for no reason but to give it to her. So for not really knowing fully why, she climbed off the bridge and headed to the nearby phone booth. She remembered the phone number that Steve gave her and dialed the number.

x x x x x

"Moshi Moshi, Tendo residence." Kasumi said as she answered the phone. "Yes he is, please hold on while I get him." Kasumi set the phone down and went in look for Steve. She found him getting ready to leave by the front door. "Stack-san, there is a phone call for you."

"Really, who is it?" Steve asked surprised that someone was calling him at the Tendo's since he told his family he was now staying at the Neko-hatten.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask, but she sounded like she was crying recently."

"Okay, thank you Kasumi." Steve replied and went over to the phone and picked it up. "This is Steve."

"Cousin?" Came a very timid female voice on the other end.

"Usagi?" Steve said recognizing the voice.

"Please help." Usagi said and Steve could hear the depression in her voice.

"What's wrong?"

"They all hate me, they don't want me around."

"Who hate's you, who doesn't want you around?"

"Everyone." Usagi said and then went silent.

"Usagi, talk to me, what's going on?"

"It would be better if I wasn't around."

"Don't talk that way, where are you?" Steve asked, starting to panic at how she was talking.

"Near the bridge overlooking the harbor. We walked past it when I showed you around."

"Don't do anything until I get there, promise me."

"I..."

"Promise me."

"Okay, I promise."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

Steve went and placed the phone back, but in his hurry, the phone fell to the floor. He ran to the door, grabbed his jacket and shoes and left the Tendo Dojo running in order to make it to the train station. Kasumi came out of the kitchen when she heard a noise. She saw Steve running out the door in a hurry and then noticed that the phone was on the floor. She told herself that she must have a word with Steve about leaving the phone on the floor. So she picked the phone off the floor and placed it back where is should belong. She then went back to finishing her after dinner cleaning.

Steve ran to the train station as fast as he could. He purchased the ticket he needed and ran over to where the train picks up the passengers and saw to his dismay the train he needed just pull away. He started swearing as he was pacing back and forth waiting for the next train, which he noticed won't arrive for another fifteen minutes.

When it did arrive, he ran into it and was anxious for it to get moving. Once it finally started moving, he was wishing it would hurry up. After twenty minutes and several stops later, it finally arrived at the stop he needed. He got off the train and started running towards the bridge, hopping that Usagi hasn't done anything drastic during his delay at the train station.

x x x x x

Usagi sat by the phone, waiting for Steve to get there. She kept glancing at her watch, estimating how long it will take Steve to get to where she is. After she waited for ten minutes after her estimated time for Steve to get there, just in case she was wrong in her math, she figured that Steve wasn't coming. So she stood up and headed towards the bridge again, feeling depressed again, thinking that Steve blew her off. Not really caring anymore, she made her way to the spot where she was before and started climbing on the bridge.

Steve was running as fast as he could to the bridge. As he got closer to the beginning of the bridge, he saw Usagi climbing on the bridge. Panicking, he didn't realize his eyes lose focus as he started to run towards Usagi. The only thing on Steve's mind was stopping Usagi before she jumped. As he approached her, it appeared she didn't hear him running towards her. When he was near enough, he jumped towards her and wrapped his right arm around her waist and twisted in the air so it pulled Usagi from the bridge. Steve landed on the ground roughly, but pulled Usagi to him as he rolled to a stop to protect her.

Usagi was about to jump off the bridge, thinking on how many people will be happier with her gone. Just as she was about to jump, she felt something wrap around her waist and pulled her from the bridge. She found herself falling to the ground as something pulled her closer to itself. She then was rolling but she wasn't feeling any pain from hitting the ground. When she stopped rolling, she quickly broke free from whatever had her. When she was free, she looked at what grabbed her and was surprised at who it was.

"Stack?" Usagi asked cautiously as she watched the person struggle to sit up and then smiled at her.

"Hey Cuz, I thought I told you to wait for me?" Steve asked. He then saw Usagi start to tear up and then she went and started to give him a crushing hug.

Usagi started crying as she held Steve, realizing that Steve really did care for her. Steve wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug while gently rocking her. While Usagi was crying, she was mumbling about what was wrong. The story that Steve was able to make out surprised him, he couldn't believe that all of her friends turned on her. When Usagi's crying died down, Steve raised her head so she was looking at him, and used his thumbs to wipe away the tear streaks she had on her cheeks.

"Feeling better?" Steve asked.

"Not really, but with you here, it's helping." Usagi replied quietly.

"Sorry I was late, I missed the train." Steve said feeling sorry.

"You're here now." Usagi said a little bit louder.

"Shall I take you home now?"

"No! I don't wanna go back, no, no, no." Usagi had a panicked look and tried to move away from Steve.

"Okay, okay, I'll take you back with me." Steve said trying to calm Usagi while maintaining a hold on her so she wouldn't escape him. "I'm sure the people I'm staying with will understand. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes." Usagi said quietly after she calmed down.

"Okay, let's go then."

Steve struggled to stand up, realizing he injured himself, and helped Usagi to stand. He held her to himself as they made their way to the train station. Usagi had stopped crying and wasn't talking when he tried asking her something. When they arrived back in Nerima Ward, and left the train station, Usagi suddenly went limp in his arms. Steve reacted fast enough to catch her before she fell to the ground. When Steve looked at her to see what was wrong, he noticed that she had a zoned out look to her. He shook her to wake her up, but it had no effect on her. He looked at where he was and realized that the Tendo Dojo was closer than the Neko-hatten and decided to head there instead. So he picked Usagi up in his arms and headed to the Tendo Dojo.

When Steve arrived at the Tendo Dojo, he realized that everyone had gone to bed. He was about to leave and head to the Neko-hatten when he noticed that Kasumi was still up. Steve then called out to her before she headed upstairs.

"Kasumi, I need your help." Steve called out.

"Stack? What's wrong?" Kasumi asked surprised to see him back so soon. She walked over to him and noticed that he was carrying someone. She looked at the person and saw he was carrying a girl, and Kasumi noticed the state of mind the person was in. "Oh my, who is this and what is wrong with her?"

"This is my cousin, Usagi, and I thought everything was all right, but we got a couple blocks from the train station and she went limp in my arms." Steve replied.

"What made her do that?"

"I don't know the full story, but it's something like this from what I was able to make out." Steve said and then started telling Kasumi what he was able to make out from Usagi.

"That's horrible. You did the right thing bringing her here until we can check with Dr. Tofu. I figure she was the one that called you that made you leave in a hurry."

"Yes, sorry about the phone, I was kinda in a hurry."

"Don't worry about it, you had a good reason."

"I just wish I knew what is going on with her right now."

"We can worry about that tomorrow. Take her up to my room; we'll let her sleep there."

"Okay, thanks Kasumi."

"No problem Stack."

Steve carried Usagi up to Kasumi's room while she went and got a spare bed linen to use. When Kasumi entered, Steve had set Usagi on Kasumi's bed and helped Kasumi make the spare bed. Once it was made, Steve placed Usagi on the bed. Just then the phone started ringing, and Kasumi asked Steve if he could get it while she finished tucking Usagi in. Steve left and went to answer the phone before it woke anyone up, while Kasumi made Usagi more comfortable before tucking her in.

"Moshi, moshi, Tendo Dojo." Steve answered the phone.

"Is Steven there?" Came a male voice that Steve recognized.

"Uncle Kenji?" Steve asked.

"Thank goodness you're there. Have you seen or heard from Usagi recently?" Kenji asked.

"Yes I have, she's safe with me right now."

"She's with you?"

"Yes."

"Oh good, we came home and found a note from her that scared us. We'll be by shortly to get her."

"As much as I'd like that, but I don't think that would be a good idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say if I was thirty seconds later, we would be attending her funeral."

"How did you know where she was?"

"She called me and thought I blew her off when I missed the train. She was trying to kill herself and so far all I was able to make out from her was her friends turned on her and that no one cares for her. I talked her into coming home with me after I mentioned of taking her home. When I mentioned about taking her home, she became hysterical and I had to calm her down. I got her sleeping right now and I have a friend looking over her with me. So I'm saying let her stay here until she feels comfortable." Steve told Kenji. He could then hear Kenji talking to someone and he figured it was Ikuko.

"All right, we'll let her stay until she's ready." Kenji replied.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can you promise not to tell anyone where she is, I don't think she is ready to be troubled by anyone she knows."

"Okay we will, just keep her safe for us."

"I will."

"Thanks and good night."

"Night Uncle Kenji." Steve said and hung up the phone. He turned and saw that Kasumi was standing near him.

"Who was that?" Kasumi asked.

"Usagi's parents looking for her. They gave their permission to let Usagi stay here."

"That's good."

"Speaking of Usagi how is she?"

"Sleeping right now."

"Good."

"You can stay here tonight if you want."

"Thanks, let me call Cologne to inform her what's going on."

"Okay, I'll get you some blankets while you make the call."

"Okay."

While Kasumi went to get Steve some blankets, Steve called Cologne to tell her where he was and what was going on. Cologne thanked him and told him she would send Shampoo there in the morning for practice. Steve hung up and took the blankets Kasumi offered and then slept on the couch.

NEXT DAY

Steve woke up early and made his way to Kasumi's room. He knocked on the door and was surprised that the door was answered so quickly. Kasumi noticed that it was Steve at the door and let him into the room. Steve noticed that Kasumi was wearing only her nightgown and saw that the material was very transparent. So he looked away and decided to look at Usagi, who he noticed was awake but still had her zoned out look.

"She was awake when I woke up. I tried talking to her but she doesn't reply back. She's been like that ever since." Kasumi replied to Steve's questioning look.

"Let me give it a try." Steve said and then knelt by Usagi and tried talking to her, but he didn't get any reply either. "This is beginning to worry me."

"What are you going to do?" Kasumi asked.

"I think I'm going to try some shock therapy."

"You aren't going to really shock her are you?"

"No, I was thinking of giving her a bath, with your permission, of course."

"You are not going to strip her naked are you?"

"How else am I going to do it?"

"Leave her in her underwear." Kasumi said and then thought for a moment. "I'll help you with her. Carry her to the bathroom; I'll be down shortly to help."

"Okay."

Steve picked Usagi up and took her to the bathroom. Kasumi gathered some clothes for her and a change of underwear for Usagi. She was about to leave her room when she realized she was just wearing her nightgown, her 'naughty' one at that. She blushed when she realized that Steve had seen her dressed like this, but was happy that he didn't mention anything about it. So she quickly put some panties on and grabbed the clothes and headed to the bathroom.

When she got there, she found Steve had all ready had started undressing Usagi, she also had found him in his boxers. She set the clothes off to the side and helped Steve in removing what Usagi still had on. Once Usagi was in her underwear, Steve commented on the rabbit heads and carrot theme to her underwear. They then proceeded to bathe Usagi. The only trouble they had was undoing Usagi's hairstyle. When they were done, they were sad that the bath didn't wake Usagi up; Steve said that he would get a spare set of clothing for Usagi to wear if Kasumi would dress her. Kasumi smiled and said she would be glad to do it. So Steve left as Kasumi started to remove Usagi's underwear and started to dry her off.

Kasumi had finished drying Usagi and had her in the new underwear when Steve returned with a change of clothes. She thanked him and after he left, she got Usagi dressed in black pants and a black silk Chinese shirt. Kasumi didn't know how to do Usagi's hairstyle, so she just pulled her hair into a ponytail. When she was finished, she made sure Usagi wouldn't fall where she sat and started to get dress herself. When she was dressed, she urged Usagi up and was surprised when she stood up. She then led Usagi out of the bathroom and found Steve waiting outside the door.

Steve was happy that Usagi was slowly coming to, and the both of them led her to the dining room. They sat her down near the table and then Kasumi apologized for being improperly dressed when he was in her room. Steve said there was no problem; he was just surprised at it. He then said why don't they just keep it between the two of them, he then glanced down at Usagi and corrected himself and said the three of them. Kasumi smiled and agreed and thanked him for not making a big deal of it. Just then they heard Shampoo enter the house.

"Nihao." Shampoo called out.

"Oh, morning Shampoo." Kasumi replied.

"Hey Shampoo." Steve said.

"Shampoo miss Stack this morning." Shampoo said smiling.

"I know, but I had to deal with a problem." Steve said placing his arm over Usagi's shoulder. Shampoo noticed that and suddenly she became jealous but hid it well.

"Who her?" Shampoo asked.

"This is my cousin, Usagi." Steve replied. Shampoo relaxed when she found out the girl was a relative, but she then noticed the state of mind Usagi was in.

"What wrong with her?" Shampoo asked. Steve then told her what he knew what happened to her, and Shampoo felt sorry for her. "Shampoo have idea to wake up."

"Go ahead and try, please." Steve said.

Shampoo went over to Usagi and then slapped her across the face. Steve was surprised at what Shampoo did, and then watched as Shampoo slapped the other side of Usagi's face. The only response that Usagi gave was turning her head with the force of the blow and the reddening on her face where she was slapped. Steve stopped Shampoo from continuing when he saw it caused no apparent results. Shampoo realized how much Steve cared for Usagi and relented, it was then that they heard Ranma land outside and start yelling at his father. Steve realized that the training had just started and sighed. Both Steve and Shampoo went outside to join Ranma and his father in training, but they were working on staff fighting while Ranma and his father were doing their usual thing. Kasumi set Usagi so she could watch the training and left to the kitchen to start with breakfast.

The training went on for half an hour, during that time; Ranma had asked Steve who the girl watching was during on of their breather moments. Steve explained who she was and then they continued on with their training. It was at one point where Steve was getting the advantage over Shampoo when Shampoo knocked him into the Koi pond. Steve surfaced from the pond and yelled at Shampoo for the unfair advantage of using the pond, which Shampoo just smiled at her. It was then that the both of them heard a gasp behind them and they turned and saw Usagi staring at them mumbling.

Steve and Shampoo made their way over to Usagi with Steve staying outside since she was still wet. When they were closer, they could make out that Usagi was mumbling about seeing Steve change. Shampoo finally got Usagi calmed down enough that Usagi started looking back and forth between Shampoo and Steve. Steve became worried, called out to her. Usagi looked at Steve and then crawled over to her and reached out to touch Steve's face.

"Hotaru?" Usagi asked uncertainly.

"No, it's me, your cousin." Steve said, grabbing Usagi's hand and lowered it.

"Stack?" Usagi asked.

"Hey cuz." Steve said smiling.

"H-how, you look just like her." Usagi said.

"It's a Chinese curse I have. I picked it up recently." Steve said and then remembered what Usagi had said. "You know the person I keep getting mistaken for?"

"Yes, she's a friend of mine." Usagi replied.

"Not one of 'them'?"

"I don't know, she wasn't saying anything while the others were." Usagi said. "How did you change and who is she?"

"That's Xain-pu and she's a ... friend of mine from China." Steve replied.

"Shampoo, what kind of name is that?" Usagi asked confused.

"Just one that sounds funny."

"Oh, how do you do, I'm Usagi." Usagi said to Shampoo.

"Shampoo fine, nice meet Stack cousin." Shampoo said.

"How do you change?" Usagi asked Steve.

"Any type of cold liquid changes me to how I look now and warm liquid changes me back to normal until next time." Steve said.

"That must suck." Usagi said.

"At times it does." Steve said. "So tell me about the person I look like." Usagi was about to start telling Steve about Hotaru when she saw Ranma go into the pond and come out a girl and start attacking her father. "Uh yeah, I'm not the only one either."

Usagi then nodded her head and then noticed how she was dressed. She looked at what she was wearing, felt her hair and noticed that it was in a ponytail. She then looked down the collar of the shirt and noticed that she was wearing different underwear.

"What am I wearing?" Usagi asked confused.

"Some of mine and Kasumi's clothes. Kasumi and I sent yours to the laundry." Steve replied.

"Why am I wearing them?"

"Well, when you zoned out on us, I thought of shock therapy and gave you a bath with your underwear on, and I did like the theme on them."

"You what!" Usagi exclaimed in surprise.

"Kasumi was with me, I didn't do anything." Steve started panicking when Usagi looked at him in surprise.

"Don't worry, I'm joking around, I don't care if you had me nude when you bathed me." Usagi said to Steve smiling mischievously.

"Why Stack take bath with cousin and not Shampoo. Shampoo want Stack to bathe Shampoo in nude." Shampoo said feeling hurt that Steve took a bath with Usagi and not her.

"You pervert!" Came a female shout behind them.

All three look behind them to see Akane standing there looking pissed. Akane got in Steve's face and started blaming her of being a pervert. Shampoo not liking what she was seeing, got up and stood between Steve and Akane, to stop Akane from insulting Steve. Usagi was surprised at the hostility that Akane was showing. She looked over at Steve and saw that she had a panicked look. Steve tried to explain what was going on but was saved when Kasumi entered the dining room from the kitchen and told Akane and Shampoo to stop fighting since breakfast was ready. Both of them came to an agreement and lowered their stances. Kasumi then noticed that Usagi wasn't zoned out and said she was glad to see her about. Usagi smiled at her and thanked her. Kasumi then asked her if she could help bring breakfast out while the others get their after work out bath in.

When everyone was ready and sitting at the table, Kasumi and Usagi brought the food out. While everyone was bathing or waiting for breakfast, Kasumi was talking to Usagi and checked to see if she was doing all right. Usagi said she was doing better now, but seeing her cousin and his friend change genders was an eye-opener, especially with Steve changing into a look a like to a friend of hers. They then grabbed the food and set it on the table.

When everyone sat down, most of everyone wondered who Usagi was. Steve told them Usagi's situation and why she was there. The Tendo's and Saotome's accepted the reasons why she was there and continued eating. When breakfast was over, Steve and Usagi helped Kasumi clean up while the others got ready for school. During dishes, Usagi was asking Steve if he had any knowledge of the Moon Kingdom or a Star Kingdom. Steve told her that none of that rings any bells and asked why she was asking. Usagi told him it was nothing really, she was just curious.

Kasumi then asked what they were going to do with Usagi while they were at school. That caught both Steve and Usagi off guard since they weren't thinking about it. They both had a confused look and Kasumi chuckled at their expression. She then commented to them that Usagi should go to school with them as a visitor. They looked at each other and Usagi shrugged her shoulders. So Steve agreed to take Usagi with him to school. When the others came down, Steve explained to them that Usagi was going with them to school, basically to give her something to do during the day. The others had no problem with her coming along and were willing to help out with anything she had trouble with.

While they were making their way to school, Nabiki ran on ahead to set up bets, Ranma was running on the fence with Akane on the ground next to him running also. Shampoo was running just ahead of Steve, who had Usagi running next to him. While they were running, Usagi whispered over to Steve about Shampoo's uniform and how short it was. Steve told her that Shampoo was flirting with him and that she likes to tease him. Usagi commented that she could see Shampoo's panties at times, and Steve told her that Shampoo is only doing it when no one is around but people she trusts. He doesn't have a problem with her doing it as long as she doesn't cause any problems for other people. They continued to school and Steve failed to notice that Usagi was deep in thought.

x x x x x

When they got back from school, Usagi was having a great time. When she got to the school, she witnessed the morning fight that Akane had to deal with, the fight with Kuno and Ranma, and several boys trying to hit on Shampoo. With Nabiki's help, Usagi was able to get a visitors pass easily and sat next to Steve in all of his classes. During lunch, Usagi witnessed the hassle that Ranma had to deal with, from Kuno to Akane yelling at him. She had asked Steve if this was a normal day and Steve told her it was normal, but it's been a little slow for the day. She also had some of the other girls talking to her, which she enjoyed.

So when they got back to the dojo, she was asked how she was doing. Usagi replied she was doing better and she had a great time at school. It was then that it was commented that she should transfer schools momentarily so that she didn't miss out of any education. Usagi didn't really want to, but Kasumi persuaded her to try it out. So then Steve and Usagi called Usagi's parents. Usagi didn't want to talk to them so Steve started talking to them about Usagi's transfer. It was her parents that wanted to talk to her, so she reluctantly went to talk to them.

She then proceeded to talk to her parents and explained what had happened to her that caused her to do what she was going to do. She told them everything she could, leaving out anything dealing with the Senshi. When she was done talking, her parents weren't too thrilled to hear what she said, but they agreed to let her stay where she was. Nabiki offered to help with the transfer and Usagi's parents were glad for the help. They then had Steve agree to come over and pick up some of Usagi's clothing until they can figure out where Usagi is going to stay over there. So before Steve left, Usagi told him of a bag in her closet that she wanted him to get, but she didn't want her parents to know about it. Steve agreed to make sure he didn't reveal it to her parents and gave Shampoo Usagi's home phone number to have Cologne call to talk to her parents.

So when Steve left for Usagi's house, Shampoo took Usagi over to the Neko-hatten to meet Cologne and show Usagi where she will be staying for a while. When they arrived, Usagi met Cologne and was surprised to know that she was Shampoo's great-grandmother. She was shown where she would be sleeping until further arrangements could be made, which Usagi found out was the same room as Shampoo, and then given a tour of the Café. While the tour was going on, Cologne called Usagi's parents to figure out what was going on with Usagi and what Steve had pasted onto her on where Usagi was staying. Cologne told them that Usagi would be staying at the Neko-hatten and if Usagi wanted, she would be hired as a part-time waitress, which Cologne would take the cost of Usagi living there out of her pay check. Usagi's parents thanked her and information was traded for emergencies.

When Shampoo was done with the tour, they all met in the living room upstairs. They talked about general things before Usagi had to explain again what happened to her when she was asked again. When she was done talking, Cologne knew that she was hiding something but didn't press her for any details. Usagi then asked Cologne and Shampoo how they came to know Steve and Ranma. So Cologne and Shampoo started telling the story of how they met Steve and the others, since Usagi told them her story, they felt it was only right to return the favor. During the story, Usagi brought up the question of how Steve and Ranma change. Cologne explained to her the history of Jusenkyo and its various pools before continuing on with the story. Usagi was surprised at what she was told that Shampoo was really a slave to Steve in his female form and that both Cologne and Shampoo are Chinese Amazons. After that, they continued talking until Steve returned from visiting Usagi's parents.

When Steve got back, he found that Usagi was enjoying herself talking to Shampoo and Cologne, that he smiled that he figured that Usagi wasn't going to harm herself in the near future. He then handed her the bag that she wanted him to get for her, and the bag of changes of clothes that her parents wanted to give to her. Steve asked her what was in the bag and Usagi said it was some 'interesting' clothing that she didn't want her parents finding while she was gone. She also told him that if he was a good boy, she might model some of it for him. She laughed at his shocked expression and ran up to the room she was going to be sleeping in, which was the same room as Shampoo. Cologne chuckled at him and told him he is going to have his hands full when dealing with Usagi. Steve just nodded his head and then went to his room to go to sleep.

x x x x x

Steve woke up the next morning and knew that he wasn't alone. He opened his eyes and expected to see Shampoo Again, but opened his eyes wide in surprise when he saw Shampoo and Usagi in his room. He looked the both of them over, after he got over his surprise, and saw that the both of them were kneeling on each side of his futon smiling at him. He then noticed that by the way the both of them were kneeling, that they were wearing only their nightshirts. The girls giggled at Steve as he groaned as he tried not to look at the view the girls were offering.

Steve commented to the girls about whose idea it was to do what they were doing. Both of the girls smiled evilly and told him that it was the both of them. He groaned again and said what he was going to do with the both of them. The two girls then laid next to him, on each side of him, and rubbed their cheeks on his shoulder, saying that he should love them and care for them. Steve chuckled and patted their butts and told them that they better get ready to head over to the Tendo Dojo. The girls pouted and told Steve that he was no fun, but got up anyway and headed to their bedroom to change clothes. Once all three were ready, they then headed over to the Tendo Dojo, with Usagi deciding that she wanted to join in on the practice.

After practice was over, Shampoo had once again tripped Steve into the Koi pond. After Shampoo and Usagi had a good laugh at Steve's expense, Steve offered her hands out to be helped out of the pond by the both of the girls. When Shampoo and Usagi had grabbed a hand each, Steve suddenly jerked back, which caused both of the girls to lose their balance and fall into the pond. When the both of them surfaced, they were glaring at Steve who was laughing at them. Then the three of them got into a water fight that lasted until Kasumi came out to stop them.

When Steve went to take a bath, Shampoo and Usagi went in with him. When Steve tried to complain, but the both of them wouldn't hear any complaints and dragged Steve into the bathroom be her arms, complaining all the way into the bathroom. Ranma laughed at Steve's predicament while Kasumi frowned that it wasn't right to do what they were doing. Akane grumbled on how much a pervert that Steve was being, but she knew it wasn't all Steve's fault since Steve was being dragged to the bathroom.

After the bath was done, they got dressed and met everyone at the table for breakfast. During breakfast, Nabiki presented Usagi with the necessary paperwork to turn in to the school office for a temporary transfer. Usagi looked at the papers in surprise as she didn't think she would get them as soon as she did. Steve explained to Usagi that Nabiki could do anything if she set her mind on it and had enough money. Usagi thanked her and they all finished their breakfast.

When Breakfast was over, Nabiki took Usagi to school to finish the transfer paperwork. The others left shortly afterwards to head for school. Along the way, Ranma asked Steve what happened in the bath when Akane wasn't in hearing range. After Steve joked with why he wanted to know what happened, Steve just told him that all he did was bathe the both of them and they in turn bathed him, even though he was in his cursed form at the time. Ranma then joked how Steve was starting a harem, when Steve started saying it wasn't true, Ranma pointed out that it was his cursed form that seems to be collecting the harem. Ranma joked about 'Talia's Harem' and started running when Steve started chasing him. The thing that both of them missed was that Shampoo had over heard them talking and started thinking of what Ranma had said.

At the end of the school day, Usagi had enjoyed herself at her first real day at another school. Shampoo had told Usagi about what Ranma was joking Steve about having a harem and both of them agreed to play it out to see what would happen. At lunch time, the both of them were having fun messing with Kuno's mind by confusing him. Telling him that Ranma wasn't enslaving them, that they were enslaved by Talia. Kuno didn't know what to do, he wanted to free the girls, but he couldn't bring himself to attack a younger girl and Akane's sister at that. The rest of the day went by uneventfully.

x x x x x

Over in Juuban, the Senshi had started to feel guilty about the way they had treated Usagi. They were going to apologize to Usagi for losing their temper, but Usagi didn't show up at school the next day. When the second day came and Usagi wasn't there, they became worried. They tried contacting Usagi through the communicator, but Usagi didn't respond. So they all agreed to head over to Usagi's house to see what was wrong and then to apologize.

When the school day was over, they all gathered and headed over to Usagi's house. It was Rei that knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered. After a couple of minutes, the door opened to reveal Ikuko. When she saw who it was at the door, her smile changed to a cold look. The Senshi were surprised at the sudden change of expression they received.

"What do you all want?" Ikuko asked coldly, making some of the Senshi shiver at the tone.

"Is Usagi here, we would like to talk to her." Rei asked.

"Haven't you all done enough to Usagi all ready? Please leave and don't come back here again." Ikuko said and then shut the door in the Senshi's faces, causing some of them to be confused.

"What was that all about?" Makoto asked.

"I don't know, but let's head to my place." Rei replied.

When all of the Senshi had gathered at Rei's shrine, they all were feeling a little down since they couldn't talk to Usagi. They were all wondering what was going on, they knew they had hurt Usagi's feelings, but they never had seen or knew of Usagi not being in school because of it. More questions were being added as no answers were forth coming. Eventually they were getting more depressed as more questions were being added. After several minutes of just sitting there in silence, they were about to head home, since they realized that they weren't going to find out anything. Just then Chibi-Usa came running inside the room breathing hard. The Senshi was confused and asked Chibi-Usa what she was doing.

"I'm sorry but this has to be quick," Chibi-Usa said between breaths. "I told Auntie Ikuko that I had to do an errand."

"Why?" Ami asked.

"She doesn't want me to be with you all because of what you all did to Usagi." Chibi-Usa replied.

"We know we hurt her feelings, we tried to apologize, but Usagi's mother wouldn't let us talk to her." Makoto said.

"You wouldn't have been able to anyway." Chibi-Usa said.

"Why is that?" Minako said.

"Usagi hasn't been home for the past two days."

"What?" The Senshi said surprised.

"Why?" Ami asked.

"After you all yelled at her, she ran home hurt."

"We know that, what about it?" Rei asked.

"Well, it looks like you all weren't the only ones putting Usagi down; it looks like Mamoru also had some nasty words to say to her." Chibi-Usa said as she pulled out a letter and handed it over to the Senshi to read. The Senshi read the letter and couldn't believe Mamoru could be so mean; they all had comments to say about it.

"How could he do that?"

"I thought he loved her."

"Wait until I see him."

After the Senshi calmed down a little, Chibi-Usa pulled out another letter.

"After that letter, we guess Usagi wrote this one." Chibi-Usa said and handed it over to the Senshi. The Senshi read that one and gasped at the meaning of the Letter.

"Are you saying that Usagi tried to kill herself?" Makoto asked.

"What I over heard, she did almost kill herself but she was stopped." Chibi-Usa replied.

"So that is why she isn't home right now?" Ami guessed.

"Yes, but where she is now exactly, I do not know, but I do know that she is with cousin Stack, since he came to gather some clothes for Usagi last night."

"He's the one we met recently?" Minako asked.

"Yes, that's the one." Chibi-Usa replied.

After Chibi-Usa said she better be heading back, the Senshi started to feel even guiltier than they were before. They couldn't believe that Usagi would go and try and kill herself like that. They were glad she was still alive, but they wished they could have talked to her to apologize for what they did. But since they couldn't, they left for home with a heavy heart each.

x x x x x

After the school day was over, Usagi had persuaded Steve to go shopping with her and Shampoo. Usagi earlier in the day had talked to Shampoo about what she wanted to do and Shampoo agreed to go with her and help out. When Usagi confronted Steve about going shopping with her, Steve was not really into wanting to go. When Usagi mentioned it was 'Talia' she wanted to go with, Steve really became nervous. It was when Shampoo joined in the persuading that Steve's defenses started going down. When both Shampoo and Usagi started giving him the puppy dog eyes, that he agreed to go with them.

So after school, Shampoo splashed Steve with some cold water and all three went to a nearby mall. Steve dreaded what was in store for her as she was being led to several stores. The stores that made Steve blush heavily was when she was led into the lingerie stores. After purchasing several items, since Usagi or Shampoo wouldn't let Steve go without getting something, they headed back to the Neko-hatten. When Cologne saw Steve carrying several bags of clothes, she started chuckling and Steve started grumbling saying 'She knows'. Usagi and Shampoo dragged Steve up to her room for her to start trying on different combinations.

Ranma entered the Neko-hatten an hour later and saw Cologne working on some paperwork. He asked Cologne where Steve was and Cologne chuckled saying that Steve, Shampoo, and Usagi are in Steve's room. Ranma wondered what Cologne was chuckling about, made his way to Steve's room. Ranma reached Steve's room and heard Shampoo and Usagi laughing and Steve, in female form, grumbling. He opened the door and walked in, when he did, he froze where he stood. The reason being, he saw Usagi and Shampoo holding clothes up to Steve, who was only dressed in a pair of black lace bra and panties, and all three of them were facing Ranma when he had entered. It was Steve that got her voice back first.

"Hey Red, a picture will last longer." Steve said smiling.

"I wasn't ... I didn't ... I ..." Ranma started stuttering. Steve then walked over to Ranma and placed her hand over Ranma's mouth to shut him up.

"Red, shut up. I was joking; you've seen me in less all ready, so it shouldn't be a problem." Steve said.

"I know, but still." Ranma said blushing.

"Well, the good thing is, you can help the three of us." Steve said.

"Help!?" Ranma said in surprised shock.

"Hold on a sec, you two, I have to talk to Red here for a moment." Steve said turning to face Shampoo and Usagi. After the girls nodded that they heard her, they started going through the clothing while Steve pushed Ranma out to the hallway and closed the door.

"Stack, what are you doing?" Ranma asked confused.

"What does it look like, I'm playing dress up." Steve replied.

"Why are you doing that?"

"It makes Usagi happy. I don't like it, but it's better than seeing the look Usagi had when she was trying to kill herself."

"I see."

"By the way, why are you over here?" Steve asked and then saw Ranma looked embarrassed.

"I some how made Akane angry at me again and Kasumi recommended I leave for a while to let Akane cool down some. I came here 'cause I didn't know where else to go."

"Ah, okay."

"Now what is that help you needed? Not getting you dress is it?'

"You only wish, but no, the girls want a guy's opinion of what they got me, and I'm somewhat bias, so you came at the right time."

"So you only needed my opinion on your clothes?"

"Yes, that is ... oh yeah, we also got you your uniforms."

"Um ..."

"Don't worry, your waitress uniform doesn't have a skirt, since I know how much you hate that idea, it has pants." Steve replied as Ranma sighed in relief.

"So will you play along, 'cause I'm getting cold standing here." Steve said as she rubbed her arms to get a little warmer.

"I can tell."

"Huh?" Steve asked confused at Ranma's reply and saw him looking at her. She followed Ranma's line of sight and noticed what he was looking at and then got what he meant. Steve stuck her tongue out at Ranma and then grabbed Ranma's arm and entered the bedroom. "Okay, he agrees."

So Ranma suddenly found himself commenting on all the outfits that Steve had to wear. Ranma had found himself enjoying himself and chuckling to some of the outfits Steve was wearing. He even found himself suggesting some of the things for Steve to wear. The only part he had trouble with was when Shampoo and Usagi broke out the lingerie to put on Steve. When it was over, Steve was left wearing a purple teddy, since the girls wouldn't let him change into anything else. Ranma suddenly found himself changing to his female form by a glass of water by Usagi. Then to Ranma's discomfort, they broke out clothes for her to wear.

Ranma started complaining that she wasn't there to try on clothes when it was pointed out that it was her waitress uniform and they needed to see if it fit properly. Steve reminded Ranma that she went through dressing in front of everybody and had no problem with it, so Ranma shouldn't either. When it was mentioned that they had got some female underwear for her to wear, she was afraid of what it was, thinking of some of the things that Steve had to wear. She was surprised when Steve gave her three sets of plain cotton panties, one in red, one in black, and one in white. She was also given three sports bra's, in which Steve reminded her that women wore them as shirt's when they went jogging, and Ranma saw they were matching colors to her panties. Since Steve had reminded her that she had no problem changing in front of the others, Ranma decided to change into the white set. Ranma blushed when Usagi made the comment of how she couldn't believe how big Ranma's breasts were when Ranma was suppose to be really a guy.

After Ranma had gotten over her fear of changing in front of the others, Steve asked Ranma if the underwear fit comfortably and was the right size. When Ranma contemplated it for a moment, she was surprised that they fit her quite well, much to her horror. It was then that Steve brought out the Chinese pant suit waitress outfits. There were three of them that Ranma found out, one white, one red, and one in pink, and all three had flower patterns all over them. So Ranma then tried each one on and found out that all three fit her perfectly. Ranma commented on that and Steve replied that both her and Shampoo had guessed correctly. So Ranma took off the outfit and Usagi then started folding them up and started putting them away as Steve brought out two more items.

Ranma opened the first one and saw that it was a female's swimsuit. She was glad when she found out it was a one-piece swimsuit and not a bikini. She took a look at the suit and saw it had two colors, red and black. She then noticed that there was a word on the suit, much like the 'Body Glove' style that Steve had on her swimsuit, but the one on hers say 'Boy'. Ranma caught the meaning of it and was glad when she found out she didn't have to put it on. She took a look at the other item and saw that it turned out it was a red silk Chinese dress, with a dragon motif on it. Ranma looked over at Steve and noticed that Steve had a slight blush on her and wasn't looking directly at Ranma. Steve said that she got them for her as a present for what she's done for her lately. Ranma then realized what and why Steve got her the items and minorly blushed as she put the dress away.

While Ranma was checking the two items Steve gave her, Usagi had gotten up and went to her and Shampoo's room to get an item. When Usagi got back, she was carrying the bag that Steve had brought from her home. Steve and Ranma wondered what was going on when Usagi said it was their turn to do a modeling session. So both her and Shampoo started showing Steve and Ranma what was in the bag, since Usagi said it was only fair to return the favor. So the both of them started undressing in front of the both of them and started to put on what was in the bag. Much to the surprise of both Steve and Ranma, they found out that Shampoo wasn't wearing a bra and that both of the girl's hair color was natural.

The girls then started to put on the many selections of clothing that Usagi had in the bag. The only thing was Shampoo's breasts were bigger than Usagi's, so most of the stuff was very tight on her. The items Usagi had, was several different types of lingerie, from being very skimpy to practically not there. There was also clothing that was very small on Usagi, like micro-mini skirts and tube tops, to shirts that were see-through. The final items in the bag were swimsuits. The suits in there were so skimpy, Steve and Ranma were surprised it covered what it should. The one that got Steve was the one Shampoo wore, which was a one piece, but the suit was only an inch wide over the nipples and came down to form a thong to reach behind her until it separated to form the shoulder straps. When the show was over, both of them got into some of the underwear and they sat in a circle wondering what to do.

Steve, on a burst of inspiration, grabbed a pillow and threw it at Usagi, hitting her in the face. Once Usagi got over the shock and looked over at Steve and saw her smiling, Usagi caught on and grabbed the pillow and then started to attack Steve. Ranma and Shampoo were confused at what was going on as they watched Steve and Usagi hit each other with pillows. So they looked at each other, shrugging, grabbed a pillow, and started joining in. Ranma teamed up with Steve to fight Shampoo and Usagi.

During a wrong moment, Ranma tripped on a blanket and fell on top of Steve. What got everyone was when the both of them landed, Ranma was on top of Steve and their lips were pressed together in a kiss. Steve was just staring up at Ranma in surprise while Ranma was staring at Steve in shock. It was when Usagi asked if she could join in that Ranma finally got off of Steve, stuttering an apology. It was Usagi that silenced Ranma saying that Ranma needed to loosen up and not be so uptight.

Steve finally sat up, blushing a little and noticed the time. She told the others that they better get some sleep since they would have to go to practice soon. Ranma realized that she better get going, started to get change her clothes, when the others persuaded her to stay. So all four of them went to bed together, talking about general topics to some more private ones. Ranma had mentioned that how much she was revolted at what she had just done; she had really enjoyed herself by what she had done. Eventually all four of them fell asleep together in the same bed.

When Cologne went to wake them up the next morning, she found them in a sea of purple, red, black and yellow hair. She chuckled as she noticed that Steve had once again used Ranma as a pillow. So she woke them up and told them they better get ready for practice. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed the attire that they all were wearing, but she let them have their fun. After they changed, they headed over to the Tendo Dojo for morning practice. It took all three of them to explain where Ranma was to the Tendo's when they had asked Ranma where he was all night.

x x x x x

COUPLE DAYS LATER

In Juuban, the Senshi had to deal with another monster attack. When the Senshi saw the monster, to them it looked like it was the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The monsters appearance was like a movies humanoid sea creature. During the fight, the Senshi were realizing that they were having trouble in defeating it. Mercury was only able to make out that the monsters weakness was that it couldn't take much damage. After a long fight, the Senshi was able to pool their attacks until the monster was dead.

The only problem with that was, it left them very exhausted and they were trying to catch their breath. Some of them were realizing that they needed Usagi's help, but they couldn't contact her to tell her they were sorry for what they did. The reason for that was they found out that Usagi had left her communicator at her house, and they found that out by Chibi-Usa telling them that she found it there. So the Senshi had barely made it out of the scene before the emergency vehicles arrived.

Back in Nerima, the Neko-hatten had its grand opening. Shampoo and Usagi were waitresses, which the guys that entered enjoyed, because of the mini-dress outfits they wore. Ranma was a part-time waitress, when in female form, or a busboy, when in male form. Steve was in the back, helping Cologne in the kitchen with the cooking or anything else that Cologne needed. The Neko-hatten suddenly became very popular with how good the food was and the 'Shows' that was going on during the service, which was Cologne giving training while they worked.

During the last few days, Steve was noticing some changes in Usagi, but he couldn't tell if it was for the better or not. She suddenly became a big flirt, especially around Shampoo, Ranma, and himself, much to Akane's anger when Usagi was flirting with Ranma. She started wearing the clothes from her bag, her skimpy ones when she wasn't wearing her school uniform, which she changed to match Shampoo's. She was walking more gracefully and wasn't as clumsy as he had first heard. She also had started wearing her hair in a ponytail and not in her usual style. The final thing he noticed was that Usagi was teasing both him and Shampoo in an almost sexual manner. Her teasing would get to the point of almost 'going all the way' with the both of them, but luckily Usagi would stop herself before it did reach that point.

So on the one day that the Neko-hatten was closed, Steve took Usagi and Shampoo out to get some ice cream. Steve had a fun time getting Usagi into some normal looking clothes, and after several minutes argument he had to settle with her wearing a mini skirt and a long-sleeve shirt that was practically transparent. It was thin enough that if you looked carefully enough you could make out the design of her bra, which Steve was very glad, she decided to wear. Shampoo wasn't much help since she was wearing one of her mini dresses that Steve realized that she liked to wear. After the major debate of what to wear, they all left to get the ice cream.

After the ice cream, they were planning to head over to the Tendo Dojo for a small party that the Tendo sister's had planned, since both Soun and Genma were going to be away from the dojo for a while. So when they were done having their ice cream, they decided to head over to the dojo. While they were walking towards the dojo, Steve noticed a person walking on the other side of the street that he hadn't seen in a while.

"Ryouga!" Steve shouted out to get the persons attention. Ryouga stopped and looked in the direction the shout came from. When he spotted Steve, recognization shown on his face and he headed over to where Steve was standing.

"Stack! How've you been, what are you doing in Yokohama?" Ryouga said as he reached Steve.

"Yokohama?" Usagi quietly whispered to Shampoo who just shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey Ryouga, I've been doing okay, but you are in Nerima." Steve replied to Ryouga.

"Oh yeah, I knew that." Ryouga chuckled to himself and then he noticed the two girls standing behind Steve and had to look away quickly when he saw how the both of them were dressed. "So who are the two girls you are with?"

"Oh sorry, Ryouga, this is my cousin Usagi and this is Xian-pu." Steve said as he placed an arm over each girls shoulder and gave each one a small hug.

"Shampoo? What kind of name is that?" Ryouga asked confused.

"It's her name and it's Chinese, so no making any jokes about it." Steve said giving Ryouga a glare.

"All right." Ryouga said holding his hands up to fend of the glare.

"Usagi, Xian-pu, this is Ryouga Hibiki, my first Sensei." Steve said continuing the introductions. After the introductions and greetings were made, Steve had wondered about something. "Hey Ryouga, where did you visit this time?"

"Several places."

"You'll have to tell me about them sometime."

"Okay."

"We're off to the Tendo Dojo for a small party, want to join us?"

"If it won't be any trouble."

"If you don't attack Red, then I don't see a problem."

So the four of them started to head to the Tendo Dojo. Ever so often, Steve had to keep Ryouga from wondering off. Usagi was the one that commented on it and Steve explained that Ryouga liked to wonder off if he wasn't paying attention. It was then Ryouga made a comment that Steve seemed to be forming a little harem. Steve told him that if he really was starting one, he was glad to start with the two girls he had with him as he hugged both Shampoo and Usagi. Both of the girls punched Steve in the arms and glared at him, but after a few moments, all four of them started laughing.

En route to the dojo, they passed by an old woman's house and Ryoga found himself being splashed by the old woman as she was empting her bucket. Usagi and Shampoo were surprised to see Ryoga just vanish within his clothing. The both of them then saw movement from within the pile of clothes until a foxes head popped out of the clothing. Steve was saved from being splashed because Shampoo had grabbed his collar to halt his forward movement.

After seeing what happened, Steve went and collected Ryoga and started to explain that Ryoga had a Jusenkyo curse when he noticed Usagi and Shampoo were giving him questioning looks. After the quick explanation, in which Steve was unconsciously petting Ryoga, much to Ryoga's enjoyment and embarrassment. Shampoo and Usagi then went and collected Ryoga's stuff; Usagi collected Ryoga's clothes while Shampoo got the backpack. As Usagi was collecting Ryoga's clothing, she started teasing Ryoga about his tiger stripe boxers, until Steve told her to quit it when Ryoga started whining.

Shampoo, as she collected Ryoga's backpack, was surprised at how heavy it was. When Steve offered to carry it, Shampoo told him she had it and grunted as she put it on. She smiled at Steve as she then continued walking towards the dojo. Both Usagi and Steve shrugged their shoulders and quickly caught up with Shampoo.

As they were approaching the Tendo Dojo, the four of them heard a scream from above and it was getting closer. They looked up and saw a person falling towards them. As the person was getting closer, the four of them wee able to recognize the person as Ranma. They watched as Ranma got closer until he landed in front of them. Some of them winced at how Ranma landed on his back, but Ranma quickly recovered as he looked up and saw who was near him.

"Pissed off Akane again, Red?" Steve asked.

"I only made comments to help her." Ranma grumbled.

"One of these days, you'll realize that how you make comments will piss her off all the time." Steve said.

Ranma just grumbled about uncute tomboys and their poor ways of taking comments. It was then that he noticed that Usagi was standing almost over him. He noticed that she was wearing one of her mini skirts and that he had a good view up it to see that she was wearing her pink mesh panties. Ranma suddenly went wide-eyed at the view as he continued to look at it. Usagi looked down at Ranma and saw him staring at her. It took her a moment to realize what Ranma was looking at and started smiling. She smiled and started to flirt with Ranma.

"Enjoying the view, I can give you a closer look if you want." Usagi said seductively. "Besides, you've seen me wear the pink mesh ones before."

Ranma was suddenly panicked as Usagi started to flirt with him. He was saved as Steve told her to stop flirting with Ranma and saw her pout as she walked away from Ranma. He quickly stood up before anything else happened to him and saw that Steve was talking to Ryoga, in his fox form, about not making any comments about Usagi's panties. They then all decided to head into the dojo and as they were heading inside, Steve asked Ranma what was he commenting Akane on and Ranma replied that Akane was cooking some snacks for the party. Those that know about Akane's cooking, shivered at the concept that some of the food they should watch out for.

They entered the dojo and headed to the living room. Shampoo was glad to stop carrying Ryoga's backpack and it made a heavy thud as it landed on the floor. She started to massage her sore shoulders, but stopped when she felt someone massage her shoulders. She stiffened up when she felt someone else touch her, when she looked to see who it was; she saw it was Steve who had set Ryoga down, so she calmed down. As Steve was massaging Shampoo, Usagi had noticed that the TV was showing a news program about the Senshi, so she started listening to what it was saying. When she heard what it was talking about, she gasped and dropped Ryoga's clothes in shock.

Everyone heard Usagi and saw her just standing there staring at the TV. Steve became worried when he saw Usagi just staring at the TV in a shocked expression. He then went over to her to see what was wrong with her. He started shaking her to get her attention but she wasn't responding. He really started to become worried and started shaking her more violently. Steve's concern started bringing everyone over to see what was going on.

Suddenly Usagi started crying and wrapped her arms around Steve. Steve wrapped his arms around her and looked at the others with a questioningly look, saying he had no idea what was going on. He started asking Usagi what was wrong and all that he could get out of her was her saying it was all her fault and that she should have been there to help them. Everyone was clueless on what Usagi was talking about when Nabiki realized what the news was talking about and drew a connection.

"You're Sailor Moon, aren't you?" Nabiki asked Usagi.

"What?" Most of everyone exclaimed to Nabiki's announcement.

"Yes." Usagi said after she realized it was pointless to debate and she really didn't want to argue the fact. Suddenly she went limp, but since Steve was holding her, he was able to catch her quickly enough so she didn't fall to the floor. He then moved her to the couch and sat her down and sat next to her with Shampoo on his other side. The others stood around them and looked in worry at Usagi.

"Want to tell us what really is going on?" Steve asked.

"Okay, it's pointless to deny anything anymore." Usagi said defeated.

So Usagi started telling them everything from when she first became Sailor Moon to when Steve saved her from jumping off the bridge. Everyone was surprised at what she was telling them and at other times, angry at what had happened to her. When she was done talking, Steve and Shampoo were comforting her, much to her enjoyment that she didn't show. All the others started talking about what they should do to help out Usagi. After a minor debate on what they could do, no one was able to think of anything to help, which caused some of them to be chest fallen when a voice called out.

"I know of a way to help out with your problem." Came a male voice from the porch. When they all turned to face the voice, they only saw a fox.

"Helios." Usagi said quietly but everyone heard her.

"How are you doing, Serenity." Helios said, shocking everyone that the fox was talking.

"Not so good." Usagi replied like a talking animal was normal.

"Um, what do you mean you know a way to help us, Mr. Fox?" Kasumi asked nervously.

"Easy, all of you are Star Kingdom Senshi." Helios replied matter-of-factly.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

To Be Continued


End file.
